Mesa: The 48th Hunger Games
by Singlewave
Summary: "Very soon, history will be reformed." OPEN SYOT
1. Landing

President Snow's private jet landed softly in the middle of a clearing of a sparse jungle. His eagerness to get a first-hand glimpse of the arena for this year's games were overpowering. He had been told that some ancient world has been discovered in the depths of Panem. Of course, he just had to see for himself.

As he walked down the jet bridge he was immediately surrounded by one dozen peacekeepers. Even in the middle of the jungle, one must have to assume guard for the unpredictable might occur there.

The wind flew and went through Snow's parted brown hair, at his age. Streaks of grey were visible in the outliers of his head. He did not try to hide it. Instead, he represented his age. As president. You're supposed to set an example for your fellow citizens. But he didn't even try. His confidence came naturally to him.

One of the Peacekeepers came up to President Snow in a yearning manner.

"President Snow, it is an honor to meet you." The peacekeeper said. He moved aside for him. As would a proper soldier would. "We think you might want to see this."

After a short walk into an area with minimal surroundings. He was met with a group of several architects. President Snow pushed past several people before he came face-to-face with an ancient cellar. The inside was so dark that it seemed as if it would lead to the underworld. He turned to face his companion, the peacekeeper. Who nodded as he and one other trailed inside. Snow walked in, half expecting to be met by more darkness as he climbed down the stairs. Instead, the whole thing lit up as his feet laid flat on the ground.

Rows of columns met his sharp eyes. As he scanned the amazing architecture, He noticed tunnels on the other side of the columns. Everything was enchanted by the golden lights set up by the dig team in various locations. Naturally, this ought to cause a feeling of mystery and a wanting of exploration to the average person. But, to President Snow. This was just another arena hotspot. He smirked as he scanned over the inside of one of the very world wonders. An area which will be forever be changed by the imp of humans.

President Snow was met with a peacekeeper as he was guided off in a secluded area in the tomb. He was given a device, it showed a live screen with the one-and-only Head Gamemaker Tybalt Epeius. The screen casted a dark shadow behind Tybalt as if it guessed his intentions. The same couldn't be the said with Snow. Who was just waiting for the details to be spilled out.

"Here we are, sir. The ancient civilization of Mesoamerica." Tybalt declared. The holiness of the president grinned in response. He couldn't wait until the day the reapings for the districts came. Then, the capitol would have much more fun with them in planning for the upcoming games.

"I see, Tybalt." Snow said. "How do you expect to further construct this as an arena? Do you have other options?"

"Our team is fully prepared." Tybalt replied. "You should expect us to add all sorts of traps and extensions to make this place something the citizens won't believe is true." He storied.

A thoughtful silence filled the air. President Snow debated with himself whether hiring this one as Head Gamemaker was a good idea. He came off to him as ordinary, and he wanted these games to be one that would be etched on one's mind when they thought of the Hunger Games. He had a good feeling about this year. Alas, he just had to wait and see once the day of the actual games arrived.

 **A/N Here's a SYOT for you! If you have any questions regarding this feel free to PM me! I'm always open-minded for any suggestions you may offer. Tribute form is on my profile.**

 **I'm looking forward to your submissions! Until then, Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!**


	2. Emerald Park

Tybalt Epeius logged off his video chat with President Snow. Then and there he knew he had to work hard to please the President. He wouldn't want to be headless after the games, he thought.

He sat up off his desk and began walking out of his office. Grabbing his black leather coat off the rack and he went off strolling down the stairs of his building. He pushed open the double doors to the outside world and was immediately struck by the blinding lights of the sun. He used his hand to shield the lights away from his cold reddish brown eyes.

The sun, _oh_ , how much he hated that retched thing. Always getting in his eyes, burning his skin. And besides, who really needs to have the sun? With the technologies in the Capitol, people could survive off of artificially made sunlight. So the sun is basically just there to taunt him, he thought.

Luckily for him, he was directly under a sun blocker attached to the plaza he was in. So he didn't really have to worry about it, he just kept walking.

Tybalt kept his pale hands hid in his coat pockets. He passed people giving him glares and such, looking at his unkempt jet black hair and whitish pale skin it'd be hard not to be disgusted. Tybalt just sneered at them back.

He turned a corner onto a street that was much more thinner in size. But, on the outliers it was definitely more greener. Palm trees lined up the road like lights by a red carpet. This exquisite area of the the Capitol was known as _Emerald Park_. It's bright green trees and grass might've influenced it's name, agreeably. But it's fundamental nature certainly causes it to shine like an emerald.

Tybalt went in the park, he was glad to see that there were basically no people there. He took a stroll around the vast gardens, admired the stone water fountain, and breathed in the fresh air. He was very well relaxed in this heaven on earth. But, of course, Tybalt wasn't here to admire the scaping.

He decided to take out his notebook and jot down some ideas that came to mind as he viewed the freshly trimmed and faded bushes. Which reminded him of how the arena would look, he just couldn't wait to see the finishing touches being added on.

He took a deep breath, and began scribbling down what he saw, he needed some motivation to construct to the arena, besides. Was he really going to come up with everything in his brain? He wrote down some notes of the greenery, but not long after a family walked in.

The family looked as if they had just came from something fun and exciting. It was a mom and a dad, with three children, two very young, maybe five or six year old boys and a toddler girl. Who were strolling around the park, looking as happy as they could be. They all sat down on a bench, directly in the sight of Tybalt Epeius. Who was annoyed beyond belief.

He never liked children, they always reminded him of his past. Which was not something Tybalt liked to talk about. He always liked being around older people, and with him being at the young age of twenty-seven being the head-gamemaker was the perfect job for him. Especially with the power of being able to control an entire arena with the snap of his voice, he loved that. And so, he continued to jot down various things that came to mind that could be an extension to the jungle of the arena.

He thought of being able to add several kinds of mutations, but he didn't want the games to end so very quickly.

Just then, he thought of something… _Oh my god. This is brilliant!_ Tybalt thought, then and there he started writing down paragraphs of ideas, he wrote quickly so the ideas wouldn't fade away from him so fast. _Where did I come up with this stuff?_ He thought as he wrote down a snippet of an excerpt.

Tybalt had an epiphany, he knew that these were going to be the greatest games yet. He also had a plan, a sickening plan. He fathomed that it wasn't all just about the entertainment of the capitol. But, he had a plan to keep the districts where they were. He knew this since before the job interview for Head Gamemaker. If a rebellion did ensue, he would be mummified for it. It was his job to take charge of this after all, he had to design an arena which would stop anything from emerging in the districts.

He looked up from his notepad and came eye-to-eye with one of the children. She looked at him like a deer in the headlights. He watched at how she looked at him with pride etched on her face, and how she took out a cookie from her lunchbox and took a loud bite out of it, her chewing loud and obnoxious.

Tybalt sneered at the girl.

 _So…_ He thought.

It's war, then.

* * *

An update from me! Hooray! So this was just a recap of what Tybalt's life is like. Aside from being the cruel game maker of the 48th annual Hunger Games.. Speaking of which, I only have 9 submissions so far, so if you're willing to submit another tribute or you're just now stumbling upon this. Go ahead and get those tribute- making-juices into work! Until next time!

~Singlewave


	3. District 10 Reapings

_Hayley Thrianta, 14, District 10 Female_

Hayley set a stethoscope to a baby sheep's chest area, listening for the sound of heartbeats. When she heard the typical, _thu thump thu thump_ sounds, she removed the buds from her ears and got a needle.

"Alright, this is going to hurt a little bit.." She assured the animal. And inserted the syringe slightly in the leg of the sheep. It let out a small huff. But eventually it calmed down a bit. After a brief blood analysis, Hayley came back to the front with the little goat in a leash, her wearing a pleasant expression on her face.

"Here you go, Mrs. Miller." Hayley returned the animal back to a young looking lady who was waiting in the waiting room. Where she thanked the girl greatly and left the vet with her sheep.

Hayley kept looking at the happy pair as they strolled down the cobblestone way out of their farm. She could never shake something out of her head, and she never fully understood why.

She always saw the animals that lived around her as being carefree, full of enjoyment, and always relaxed. Why couldn't she have that? She thought that being an animal would probably be the best thing ever. To live in a world without ever having to worry about the worst of things, to live without having the rough emotions everyone has. The thought of it simply made Hayley smile. But, as life comes to show. You can't always get everything you want.

Unexpectedly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to come face-to-face with the one and only, Rhine.

"What are you doing here!?" Hayley said joyously and questionably as she hugged him.

"I thought you were away for your university!"

"C'mon little sister, it wouldn't kill me if I took a few days off to see my beloved family!" Rhine said enthusiastically.

It isn't common for someone to see someone get accepted into a university at the Capitol. In fact, it is the most uncommon thing ever to occur in the districts, especially in the 10th one. One must have to be very diligent to be seen by the eyes of the Capitol's council of education, and even to Capitol citizens, it is pretty exclusive.

They both hugged each other. After they separated Hayley commenced a conversation

"So how's life with you at the Capitol? Are they treating you good?" Hayley asked. Rhine just shrugged.

"Honestly, it's been normal for me. You'd expect for me to get appraised by everyone in that place. But I doubt that anyone really cares that I'm from the districts." He responded. She nodded as a reply.

"But you know I don't like talking about myself! Let's do you, How's your week been?"

Hayley thought about what her life has come up to in the past seven days. Eventually she realized she didn't have anything positive to say, especially with the reaping and all. So she simply sighed and shrugged in response.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rhine asked. As an older brother he is prone to his younger sister's emotions.

"Is it because of the reaping? Hayley, listen. You will not get pick-"

"No, it's not about that." She intervened.

Hayley looked around before making her statement, "Uh, Rhine?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever feel like you don't fit in?"

Rhine crossed his arms. "Every day." He said while innocently grinning.

Hayley smiled, "Well, you have a reason for feeling that way."

Rhine smiled once more, but he wasn't necessarily happy. He wanted to get to the bottom of his sister's worries.

"Hayley, what exactly are you talking about?" He asked.

"Well, I mean, you ever just want to go out and see the world? Like, you know you're meant to be more than just a veterinarian?"

Rhine couldn't exactly relate. After all, without his diligence he would have never been able to study his further education at the Capitol. So he wasn't exactly sure with what to respond with.

"I just feel like I'm missing out so much! I want to know what's beyond District 10, I can't just spend the rest of my life in this farm!" She continued.

Hayley looked at Rhine, she didn't expect much of a reaction from him, until he said this,

"Hayley, I know exactly where you're coming from. Before I got accepted into Capitol University. I felt like a nobody, I didn't know if I had much of a purpose in life." He said. Hayley thought about this for a moment, she pondered what this meant as she was looking at something to her left.

"And, little did I know I was thinking these very things as I was getting the top test scores in all of Panem. Do you get what I'm saying, Hayley? You never know what type of potential you're starting to grow right now."

The brunette girl reviewed this. She still wasn't sure how she felt afterwards, but she had to give some kudos to Rhine for helping her sort her problems a little bit.

"Thanks." Is all she could manage to say. To which Rhine shrugged a little bit.

The real problem remained in Hayley's conscious. Would she ever be picked in today's ceremony, or would she be spared? She sighed. It was as if one problem was toppling on top of the other. Then, suddenly she remembered the reality, she immediately started to head toward her room after she nodded at Rhine, who looked at her with squinted eyes.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I have to get ready!"

* * *

 _Nox Backman, 17, District 10 Male_

Nox Backman calculated he'd been in the woods for about 2 hours now. He loves nature, so it seemed as though only a few minutes have passed. He felt even better considering his best companion, Buck the Dog, was there with him.

They watched the sunrise together on a large rock platform overlooking the forest. Nox loved his dog. They both seemed inseparable to the average person. Nox even remembers the day he got him.

It was five years ago, when Nox was twelve. but to him it felt as though it had just happened.

 _He was walking home from school, when suddenly, he saw a group of older kids laughing, they were gathered around something small and white. Curious, Nox decided to get a closer look. When he took a few steps toward the crowd, he realized that it was a dog._

 _They were poking it with a long stick, laughing, and calling it names. Nox couldn't believe his eyes or ears. Why would anyone do this? He thought. He had to do something, something in order to save the little dog from being humiliated for no reason. Nox had marched on over to the scene._

 _"Stop it!" He shouted. He ran over to the crowd of kids._

 _"You can't do that! Leave him alone!" He tried to pick up the dog, but when he touched it's leg it let out a sharp squeal. Poor thing, it must have injured its leg somehow, but Nox didn't have time to further think before he was cornered by the biggest kid in the group._

 _"What makes you think we're gonna take orders from some random jit?" The boy said, who then proceeded to push Nox aside, hard, causing him to fall on his behind. The boys laughed. Then continued to harass the animal._

 _Nox got back up, wiping the dirt from his shorts. His rage toward these bullies made him pick up the closest thing to his feet, which was a random branch. And chuck it at the boy's head. Which caused him to shout out in pain._

 _Rubbing the area in which the branch had hit him. The boy looked over at Nox with gritted teeth and glaring eyes._

 _Nox took an uneasy step back, realizing that he made a big mistake._

 _After a few agonizing minutes. Nox carefully got up. He acquired a fair amount of bruises and a bloody nose from the beat up session. And he should have known better than to irritate someone twice the size of him. But, it didn't matter anymore, all he wanted to make sure was that the dog was okay._

 _Sure enough, it was still there. It had a tired expression on, which hurt Nox. He just wanted this poor creature to be safe and sound. He let his hand out, as to see whether or not the dog would accept it's helpful gesture. When he saw that the dog could hardly move, he panicked._

 _He knew where the vet's office was, so with one heap of willpower, he got up and started make a dash towards it._

 _It felt like a whole hour to arrive to this close destination, but Nox persisted and barged inside the glass panelled door, sweating and panting. When the office lady asked what was wrong he explained the whole situation. It all seemed plenty bizarre, but the vet crew agreed to go and check on the stray the little boy was talking about._

 _When they checked they saw that a young husky dog was on the curb, barely conscious. So they carried it to the surgical room as fast as they could and immediately started a procedure._

 _Nox was told to wait in the waiting room by the front desk. It was not easy for him, he wondered what on earth had happened to that dog's leg. And he wondered why those teenagers were making fun of it. In the end, he just hoped that this dog's life would be okay. And, in the end it did end up well. After a couple of hours the vets returned to the boy with a smiling husky dog._

 _Nox jumped up off his seat and cheered. He let out his hands and clapped and whistled for the dog to come over. With a bounce the husky did, and it allowed the boy to pet his future best friend for the first time._

 _"Apparently, it had a broken leg. But that's fine since it was easy to fix up. By the way, it's on the house." The vet said. Nox's eyes lit up at the words. He thankfully didn't have to pay for the deed. Considering he was a child and didn't have a couple hundred dollars on him. Nox Backman thanked the member greatly as he walked out of the store with his new companion. Which he would later give the name, Buck._

And now, the happy friends were relaxing on the edge of a rock platform, Nox decided to play a little game with Buck. He got up and grabbed the nearest thing to his feet, which was a small stick. He smiled at Buck as he got ready to throw,

"Go… fetch it! C'mon boy! Go get it!" Nox yelled as he threw the stick, to which Buck immediately sprinted towards the twig and transported it back to his rightful owner.

"Good boy, you're such a-"

Just then, Buck picked up a loud vibrating sound coming from the sky. He darted into a listening stance with one paw in the air, Nox was next to hear this strange noise. After a short while of scanning the sky the two eventually decided to forget. Well, they were in for a big surprise.

Nox Backman was forced to his knees by a booming loud whirring sound. Buck was sent into a savage barking and growling session. Nox peered into the sky, and his eyes widened at the sight.

A huge gray hovercraft, probably the size of a baseball field. Could be seen flying over to the square, covering half the sky to the duo. Nox's mouth was left wide open in shock. As for Buck, it was obvious that he was a little shocked as well. Nox immediately called for his companion to stay by him, and then they left running off to the district center.

* * *

Hayley couldn't see herself getting chosen. There'd just be absolutely no way that the escort would select her, considering she's only in the bowl the mandatory amount of times with no tesserae. At least her friends, Olga and Vannah, were with her, Hayey thought.

"I'm so nervous! How about you, Vannah?" Olga said.

"So so nervous! I just hope I don't get picked!" Vannah replied.

Hayley didn't say much during this chat. She always prefered to just stay in the background for the most part. The girls all signed in and then went into the 14 year old girl's roped area. While they were there she noticed a tall, fruity looking woman walking up the stage and in front of the podium. It was Domitia Sterlingshire, a woman who has on a literal banana outfit. Her yellow dress falls to the floor and ends with a brown tip. Hayley sneered at her, she didn't completely understand the fashion trends of the Capitol either.

"Welcome citizens! Today, I will be selecting one boy and one girl to each represent District 10 in the 48th annual Hunger Games!" Domitia announced. Hayley, along with quite a few other people, groaned with angst. Oh how she wondered why everyone in the Capitol thinks this is some sort of delightful event.

"I will first be selecting the girls!" Domitia walked up to the glass bowl to her left, to which she extracted one piece of paper from the bowl and began reading the name nice and clear.

"The girl tribute for District 10 will be… Hayley Thriatina!"

* * *

Nox Backman couldn't see anyone at first, but then after a short while he found a tall, brunette girl with brown eyes unsteadily emerge from the 14-year-old section. He looked over at her age group to where the people were grumbling something about her finally being able to move.

He saw how she was on the verge of crying, at first, Nox felt kinda bad for her. But he remembered how he hasn't seen this girl ever before and so that was sorta better than people who he sees regularly at school.

The girl lets out a tiny _no_ as she climbs up the stage steps. Nox tried forget the brittle girl, what he was really worried on was the possibility that he'd be picked, which he was about to find out right now.

"And now, the male tribute will be, Nox Backman."

At first, Nox didn't register a single word she had said. Because there was utterly no way that his name would've been called. He heard what she said, of course he did. But Nox was denying it. He wasn't _actually_ picked, he thought. This was all a dream, just a simple dream that he'd wake up in a few seconds. He counted backwards from three to make sure.

3.

2.

1.

"Move, geek!" Someone behind him called out. And then he was shoved toward the center of the audience. He could feel plenty of cameras intensely gazing at him. Nox couldn't believe it, he also wasn't sure how to react. So he just slumped his shoulders down while he depressedly stumped toward the stage.

He was sure he was going to die. There was no way he'd be able to make it out of this. He stood next to his then-to-be district partner with a sorrowful look on his face. He didn't want to make eye contact with the girl he might come to kill in the next few days, it was the same for her. The two had just stared out into the audience while the escort announced one final thing.

"Here we are, our tributes from District 10! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

The last thing the pair saw were the thousands of sad faces in the crowd before they were escorted by a dozen peacekeepers into the Justice Building.

* * *

 **Greetings everyone, Singlewave here! And news report… I have finally updated! And this time I have started the reapings! I know I haven't updated in awhile and the reason being is school has been in the way of so so much and I just hope y'all understand. :]**

 **So while this is out. I'd like to also get this out. I only have 12 tribute submissions so far, and some of them occupy more than one slot. So to all the people just now discovering this. Go ahead and submit a tribute!**

 **Also tell me what you think of the tributes so far! What are your opinions of Hayley and Nox? Do you think they'll make it far in the games? Do you see them forming an alliance? This goes without saying, review, review, review!**

 **Until then.**


	4. District 4 Reapings

_Grace Harbor, 18, District 4 Female_

In a beautiful villa somewhere in District 4, resides the Harbor family. On the second floor, at the end of a corridor, resides the bedroom of a teenage girl. Sunlight shone through the clear bay window of the bedroom and casted itself on the girl who was combing her bright, shiny, strawberry blonde hair.

Grace Harbor loved socializing, but not as much as she loved training for the Hunger Games, after all, what better way to spend the warm, beautiful, spring morning than to train on reaping day? Grace couldn't think of any better time collector, after all, she might as well get a couple more hours in her day before her big plans.

Grace put on a pair of sandals, a small revealing white blouse, and a pair of tight black shorts after eating breakfast with her beloved family and sliding through the doors off on her way to the Career Academy. Leaving her family without words as they were about to have an exchange.

Prosper, Grace's father, sighed in his wooden chair. He scrapped his fork against his plate full of food a couple times while awkwardly waiting for his wife to bring up something, when she didn't he spoke up for himself.

"And you're just going to let her go out like that? Pure, this is unacceptable." Prosper, a well respected ship captain throughout the entire district announced.

"If I were you, I would've never let her step outside looking like a strip club. She's _barely_ clothed, Pure." He included, to which he sunk back into his seat, waiting for his wife to answer his statement.

Pure, a previous victor of the Games, who won her battle by surviving on her own with a spear, a bag full of edible plants, and a spile, took a sip of her coconut milk before proceeding to answer.

"Prosper, you know she's a grown woman by this point, she's 18, which is adult age by now. You can't expect her to follow these types of rules, in her mind she's her own individual." Prosper shifted in his seat a little bit to this response, He didn't say anything after that, but his mind was still set to Grace's reason. Her parents knew she would be volunteering today, and they also knew the reason for why.

Meanwhile, Grace was strolling down the limestone road on her way to the training center. She took every step on the way there thinking as if she had already volunteered, and was now walking towards the stage. On her way there, she had accidentally bumped shoulders with another girl who was passing through.

"Hey, watch where you're going you self-righteous _bitch_!" Grace yelled at her. The other girl only looked back in confusion before continuing her walk.

Grace sneered as she watched her walk away before flipping her hair back over her shoulder and resuming her walk to the building, which was only a small distance away at this point.

She walked through the revolving glass door and had stepped inside, and as soon as she did. She could feel all eyes immediately land on her, but, this didn't distract her from her doings. She confidently sneered as she strut through the entrance and into the gym. Her eyes then straightaway found Aurora, a girl her age who she's been feeling quite affectionate towards.

Ignoring all the stares coming to her, she walked over to Aurora, who hasn't noticed her yet. Stares, glimpses, and all that junk, Grace at this point became used to all the attention, after all, she was known for being rather promiscuous.

She watched Aurora practice her throwing knife skills as she strutted towards her, she was exceptional at her aim, hitting every target that she threw at. Coming from a girl who's from a family of net-makers this was pretty impressive.

"Hey, _mami_." Grace stated before slapping her rear-end. Aurora hopped in surprise to this, she turned her head to come face-to-face with her one and only girlfriend.

"Oh, hey sweetness." She replied, smirking.

Grace yawned and wrapped her arm around Aurora, who was still trying to practice with the knives.

"Are you volunteering today?" Aurora decided to ask her while she was aiming her knife at a dummy 30 yards away. Grace nodded.

"You're darn skippy, it's my dream, after all. I'm pretty prepared to win this thing." She replied. She also didn't want to admit that she was going to volunteer to avenge her dead sister, Constance, who had volunteered to spread the glory of the Harbor family, but in some cases, dreams aren't always meant to last. She had made it to the final 4 before she was killed in her sleep by her district partner. Fortunately, he didn't win.

Grace was an exception; other than Constance she had more of a reason to volunteer and a bigger drive to win, this was thanks to her. She smirked as she thought of how she was going to win the games, she then stopped as she realized she would have to find out in the weeks to come.

"Whatcha thinking about, my lovely goddess?" Aurora took a break from her knife practice to embrace Grace in a romantic hug.

"I'm thinking about you, of course." She answered in a seductive tone.

Before anymore could emerge from this moment the two were having, the PA system commences with an announcement from the head trainer.

"All trainees please exit the training center at this time."

Grace sighed in despair, she really hoped she would have at least gotten an hour of training before the center was closed for the reaping. She looked at Aurora with a pleading expression, to which she just shrugged and started to pack up her knives, and so Grace was walking out of the building with her hands shoved in her short pockets. Suddenly, she noticed a very cute boy in the distance. Grace grinned, she knew it was wrong to cheat on her girlfriend, but, at the same time, this boy did have gorgeous eyes.

* * *

 _Brine Clemont, 16, District 4 Male_

Brine and his group of friends, Mako and Nema, were all hanging out at the beach. Swimming, building sand castles, almost anything a normal group of teens would do. Brine however, was not going to take the risk of stepping into the water. He was too busy relaxing in his beach chair, fiddling with his makeshift spear to consider any thought of what his friends were doing.

"C'mon Brine! Just step in, the water's fine!" He heard Nema yell from afar. Brine just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, when pigs fly!" He yelled back. Brine hasn't always been afraid of the water, up until the age of 12, he had been a swan at swimming. Now, he rarely even considers it when asked.

"Hey, beautiful! Just c'mon in and take a dip with us, huh?" Brine heard Mako yell out, before hearing a chorus of laughter coming from the ocean.

Brine just rolled his eyes, not taking further thought into Mako's words. He heard the group chatting a bit amongst themselves, but decided it'd be best not to get curious on what their deal was.

"Hey, Brine! Why don't you come and teach us how to fish right now!" Shouted Nema, her eyes scanning the water, where dozens of fish were currently surrounding her, from what Brine could see.

"Nema, are you crazy? He would never step foot in the water!" Mako exclaimed, almost reading his male friend's mind. However, this made Brine a little agitated, as much as he didn't want to even step foot in the ocean. He didn't like the idea of being deemed of his actions.

A few seconds of strong consideration flew past his head, Brine had morals, and what had happened over 4 years ago had taken a toll on what he considers to be safe or not, but, he didn't want to be seen a coward by his closest friends.

With a sigh and a scowl, Brine stood up from his comfy little beach chair and walked over to the shore, his makeshift spear in hand. He heard sarcastic clapping and hooting coming from Mako and Nema, but, he ignored them. He stood by the shore gazing at the shimmering water, he then glanced towards his friends. Who were grinning wildly at him.

"Hey, you finally decided to conquer your fears!" Mako exclaimed with a nervous laugh. Brine replied with a mocking laugh of his. He balanced his spear behind his shoulders before testing the water by dipping half his foot in the coldness of the sea.

Brine immediately retreated by jumping back, startled by how cold it was. He had forgotten all these years of how cold District 4's shore can be in this time of year, which was a little sad to think about.

"Uh, I'm not too sure about this guys, it's been a while…"

"Just hop in! The water doesn't mind you!" Nema said jokingly. Brine decided to finally let go of his tensions and just go all in. He then strolled through the water like it was nothing, forgetting the very reason he had been afraid of the sea all these years.

A heap of pride fell over Brine, he gripped his spear with both hands before lunging at a fish that was swimming around sheepishly. Brine examined the fish afterwards and saw that it was a herring.

"I guess I still got it!" Brine proclaimed happily. He gazed over at his best friends, who's eyes were widened in surprise.

After a short while of dabbling with the spear and showing his friends some techniques on how to use it, they decided to take a break by sitting in the water, with the spear set on the shore.

"I really wish the day would go by slower, I really enjoyed having you finally teach us." Mako proclaimed.

"I agree all-out." Nema answered.

The three were sitting in about a foot of water, talking amongst themselves. When suddenly, Nema and Mako noticed something in the distance of the sea. They both took it to themselves to find out what it was, leaving Brine by himself and with his thoughts.

"What is it?" He asked to them as they ran off to the unidentified object, he started to get up but was told to stay where he was. Brine was starting to get concerned, and he wasn't one to get so worried easily. He was typically calm, but what was about to happen next would change the way he viewed things forever.

He ignored his friends demands for him to stay and ran up to where they were cornering something blobby and big. He took a closer look to what was going on at this moment before his heart skipped a beat when he realized what it was.

It all came back to him now, his mother's death, which resulted in a diving accident. The image of what happened was now being played over and over again in Brine's mind. He remembers the jellyfish which his mother had encountered during the dive, the screams of horror after her lifeless body had reemerged to the surface. The rest of it was all blurry to him, Brine looked at the jellyfish that was now right in front of him in horror. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

* * *

Grace and her best friend, Malo, stood together as they were walking towards the square, where the reapings were being held.

Malo was one of the only guys in the training center that she hadn't slept with, the two knew each other since before they signed up to train. Grace looked up at Malo as they were walking, he had short blonde hair, and almond grey/blue eyes. Sure, he was cute, but her dating him? That'd be crazy, and besides. Grace didn't need anymore friendships being ruined by her promiscuous actions.

The two had reached the square and were now in line waiting to get registered. Malo had taken the opportunity to strike up a conversation with his friend.

"Ooh, I'm so nervous, are you nervous? Because I am, just look at my hands!" Malo showed his trembling hands, signifying that he was indeed nervous. Grace laughed as she was getting her finger pricked.

As she was roaming the crowd, searching for her girlfriend, she was suddenly pulled to the crowd of 18 year-olds. She spun around to see who on earth had done that before she came face to face with Aurora, who pulled her in for a kiss before letting her go to the sound of a microphone being tested.

Tiberius Jardine took it upon himself to be the escort for District 4. Most people saw him as stubborn, and he was indeed an unliked individual throughout the district. Grace liked him, however. She turned her head to look at Aurora, who looked as if she wanted this whole thing to be done with.

"Hello citizens of District 4!" Tiberius exclaimed, as if he was some sort of alien proclaiming his arrival to an audience of humans.

"This is such a wonderful day to be speaking with you all, I am very excited to be announcing this District's tributes for the 48th annual Hunger Games." He announced.

"Now, without further ado, let's begin!" Tiberius marched over to the glass bowl which held more than a thousand names. Grace started to fix her hair in preparation for her camera introduction.

He pulled out a slip of paper before unfolding it, "The girl tribute for District 4 will be… Moselle Larkins!"

Grace immediately emerged from the 18 year-old crowd, like a queen she strutted her way towards the stage before raising her arm up screaming the words;

"I volunteer as tribute!"

* * *

Brine glanced up from his feet to see a tall, blonde girl with pearl blue eyes confidently make her way up the stage, he heard the escort ask what her name was, and with a surprising motion, she took the microphone from his hands and announced loud and clear for the whole of Panem to know.

"I'm Grace Harbor, and I'll be representing my District for the 48th annual Hunger Games!" She continued to wave, smile, and blow kisses at the crowd, Brine knew she was only playing with the cameras to get the viewers attention, but little did he know he would have to come up with a similar plan.

Tiberius forced the microphone from Grace's hands. "Um, okay, now it is time to select the boy tribute!"

Brine gulped, he hated to admit it even in his own thoughts. But, he was quite nervous that he'd be selected, he didn't want his own friends to see him possibly get killed, he cringed as he recalled what had happened only a few hours prior to this moment, his fear of water was reprimanded only to be replaced in such a short amount of time.

He was caught off guard by the sound of Tiberius ready to announce the boy tribute, he hadn't known he already picked a slip, and so his mind wasn't prepared for what was about to happen next.

"Our next representative for District 4 will be.. Jack Kersey!"

Brine watched as a boy with chestnut hair hobble out from the 18 year-olds. He noticed how the boy was looking very terrified, and that made Brine feel quite a bit of remorse for him, but he knew better than to feel sorry for someone who he barely knew.

Suddenly, the boy walked over to a girl from the opposite side, she was holding a newborn infant, and she appeared to be the baby's mother. Brine watched with confusion as he saw the boy kiss the little infant on the forehead, before wiping the sweat from his own and continued to walk towards the stage.

This was unbelievable, a boy, not just any boy. A _teenage father._ Had just been selected. Brine could feel his remorse start to build up inside of him, he anger towards the Capitol was so intense now that he had to close his eyes and try to control his breathing, but, this was a difficult thing to do for him at the moment.

Brine couldn't believe his eyes or ears. He couldn't just stay in his position and watch a family being teared apart, he had to be a hero in this moment.

With enough strength Brine didn't even knew he had. He started for the stage, all the while screaming, "I volunteer!"

* * *

 **You all probably thought I was dead, didn't you? Well, here I am! Back with another update! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, since it took me well over two weeks to write it... Just kidding, in all honesty the reason for my slack is just a form of me being lazy... but I promise to you that the next update will come much quicker though.**

 **Anyways, without further ado, tell me what you think of this chapter! Feedback is more than appreciated. Do you like Grace or Brine more? Which of these do you see possibly becoming the victor? And to the people who've submitted these characters, do you like what I've done with them?**

 **P.S. I made Aurora up myself, Grace's creator did not make her. I think it adds to her social life a little bit more, I hope he appreciates this though :)**

 **And this goes without saying, review x3! Oh and also I need more tributes, so go ahead and start making some!**

 **Until then.**


	5. District 7 Reapings

_Ashley Waters, 17, District 7 Female_

"Ready to go, Ashley?" Juniper, one of Ashley's closest friends, asked. Placing her hands by her hips. Ashley just turned her head to look up at Juniper as she was stretching.

"Junie, I can't come with you to the forests. I already notified the workers that'll I'll be taking a day off because of my cross country training." She replied. Juniper just sighed.

"Fine, guess I'll just ask Lully if she wants to come. But I doubt that since she's probably too worried on her lousy boyfriend and her hair to ever worry about her work schedule." She scoffed. Ashley being left unaffiliated by this girl's concerns.

As she watched her best friend intensely march off into the distance, she thought about what her plans were going to be for the day. She already had the reaping to worry about, that was one thing. But, of course, there was the unmistakable fear that she would have to come home once again, to her bat-shit crazy step-father throwing a beer bottle at her whenever she walked through the door. She figured that wouldn't happen, since she had no intentions of visiting her house today. After all, why would she ever want to go through an uncomfortable night of being forced to listen to the yells of her step-dad and glass breaking everywhere? Nope, she would ask one of her friends if she could stay for the night.

But, would she have to go back to that wretched house in order to get ready for the reaping ceremony? She couldn't say that she cared of what people thought of her, but she didn't want to show up to the nationally-televised event looking like a dirty bum. She took one quick glance at herself, then she knew she would have to change clothes.

She sighed in dismay as she took the scary pathway towards her house. Hoping to whatever's out there that she would not have an encounter with Cedar, or anyone else for that moment. Her initial shyness made it so that she would be unable to get a word out in the most embarrassing of situations.

She made it to her front door without any sign of her alcoholic step-father, but another question remained. Would he be inside? She slowly and carefully cracked the door open, chiming in on the littlest of noise coming from inside her wooden house. She realized nobody was in there. She thought maybe Cedar was out getting another six-pack of beer. Which was likely the reason.

As she stepped inside, she walked over to the middle of the living room and lightly yanked the pull chain from the light bulb attached to the ceiling. The dark room lit up before her eyes, and she looked around her house.

Nothing too special stood out about it, other than the one broken window just casually remaining broken from that one time her brother, Birch, punched it to refrain from attacking back Cedar, her step-father. Speaking of Birch, where on earth was he? He couldn't be at the house, since she would've heard him at some point over the past 2 minutes. Just then, she saw a small piece of paper with some scribblings on it attached to a wall. Ashley blinked in confusion as she strutted over to where it lay pinned

She unstuck the square piece of paper and held it her hand. It read,

 _Everybody is out working in the forests. We'll be back before the reaping. Good luck on your competition today!_

 _-Birch_

Ashley smiled, she regarded her siblings, there was Robin, Rowan, and Misty. Robin and Rowan were twins, but they were nothing alike. Robin was always the smart one, he studied all the time and had an unhealthy obsession with trees. Rowan, however, was regarded as the 'tough' one. He was easy to embarrass and was typically fighting with his twin brother most of the time. Misty was the youngest, but that didn't mean she was the nicest. She never really had a good relationship with Cedar, even though she was the only half-sibling and thus Cedar was her actual dad.

Her face suddenly twisted into a confused look as she flipped the paper over to see an old maple leaf stuck to it with a piece of tape. She unstuck the maple leaf and looked at it with a small hint of wonderment in her eyes. She immediately knew it was from her brother as a sort of, 'good luck' token for her race. Silently, she thanked Birch for this before securing it inside her shirt pocket.

Walking up the stairs to get dressed for the reaping, she couldn't help but wonder what her chances were of being selected from the ceremony. She had 20 slips of paper in the reaping bowl. Which was a lot more than any other average 17-year old in the district. The thought sent her into a mini panic attack, but, she managed to calm herself down once she reached her room.

Rummaging through her closet to see what she could wear, she found a knitted, primrose yellow dress that was just her length. Knitting was sort of her hobby. Whenever she found the time she would always knit up whatever she felt like creating. She couldn't help but feel a little fancy as she watched herself in her mirror. Her hazel eyes lit up as she gazed at her reflection, admiring herself joyfully as she ran her hands down the intricate pattern of her dress.

She was putting on some shoes before she heard loud footsteps coming from downstairs. She froze in her position, her eyes widened as she whirled her head around to look at the clock. It was only 10:30! How could he have been home right now!?

Ashley listened as the groggy voice of her step-dad yelled out in an obscure tone, obviously the cause of having one too many to drink.

" _Who the hell left the front door open_?!"

Ashley just _had_ to get out of there. Having to risk getting shoved into a wall was the last thing she wanted to go through. _Especially_ having to smell his horrid breath as he went up all in her face, that was a big no no for her.

Panicking, she scurried over to the window with her shoes clutched in her hand, opening it as silently as she could manage. Her heart boomed in her chest as she listened to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs with a drunken voice accompanied by it. _Hurry, hurry!_

She slid the window open and climbed out. She jumped just in time to hear her doorknob jiggle. But, that didn't matter at all right now. It wasn't as if he was going to actually follow her at his state? The thought remained as she landed roughly on the ground. That two-story fall sure seemed more like a 4 story to her. She shakily stood up, checking to see if any of her limbs were intact, which was not a worry for her as she finished examining. Before she ran off into the distance, not caring that her dress was now partly dirty. As she ran… she could feel a small, sinister grin form on her face.

* * *

 _Rowan Blackwood, 18, District 7 Male_

 _Thwack._

 _Thwack._

 _Thwack._

The heavy ax that belonged to no other than Rowan Blackwood made its way toward the base of the tree and out before repeating the process. He grit his teeth as he watched two people in the distance having a conversation. Normally, he would be okay with this, but this time his girlfriend was getting a little too physical with this random guy he's never seen before. He tried to ignore it, thinking maybe that he's her cousin or something. But, that couldn't have been possible, they looked nothing alike!

He continued to angrily and harshly cut down the tree, the inner bark was beginning was tear itself down, and without yelling 'timber' he heard the sound of his tree creaking over to the left. Before it came down in a crashing motion. A lot of people yelped in surprise to this as they were busy cutting down their own trees. Rowan ignored the angry comments coming from the people around him as he kept his hands by his hips, watching his girlfriend, Willow, talk joyously to this stranger.

The last straw, however, was soon taken as he watched her laugh and the stranger bite his lip.

Surprisingly, he found himself burying the ax deep into the tree stump in a rage before marching over to where the two lay standing. He walked over to Willow, keeping his gaze on solidly fixed on this... _boy_.

"Oh, hey, Rowan! How are you doing?" Willow exclaimed.

"I'm doing pretty good. So, Willow, who's this guy over here?" He asked, his eyes moving up and down the person's figure.

"The name's Tristan," he replied. "I suppose you're Willow's boyfriend, huh? She's told me a lot about you," he held out his hand for him to shake. But, Rowan only sneered at him as he placed an arm around Willow's shoulder.

"We were just heading out right now, isn't that right, Willow?"

The girl just gave her boyfriend a perplexed look as she looked from him to Tristan, "I guess..." she uttered.

"Great! Now, if you could just wait right here." Rowan said to Tristan, who just stood there wearing a grimacing expression on his face. Rowan smiled cheerily before turning around accompanied by Willow and strolling down the long aisle of lumberjacks.

"Who exactly does he think he's talking to? It almost seemed as if he-" He didn't get to finished his sentence before Willow spoke up.

"Seemed as if he wanted to steal me from you? Rowan, you need to calm down, he's just an old friend that I just wanted to catch up with. Why do you always have to be so hostile?"

Rowan didn't know how to respond. He was always the protective one throughout his life, and it didn't change when he found himself dating Willow almost 2 years ago. He cared deeply for her, and seeing this random boy start flirting with her was nerve-wracking to say the least, and yet, he was the 'hostile' one? It all nearly gave him a headache.

"Listen, Willow, you know I don't like to argue. So let's just forget this happened and go for a walk, okay?" It was extremely hard for him to say that, but it seemed to pay off nicely. As Willow formed a small smile on her face.

"Alright." She answered. The two then started to walk through the woods, leaving Tristan in a state of anger. Rowan discreetly glanced back, making sure that the boy was still there and not charging at him with intent to hurt.

"So are you okay with leaving him?" He asked the girl, Willow just shrugged.

"I was just about to leave, anyways." She replied. Satisfied, Rowan looked back ahead, but his satisfaction was soon dismantled as he and Willow stood facing an angry old man, his breath almost made Rowan's face melt off.

"Didn't you realize what you just did! You could've killed somebody with your ignoramus self!" The old man bickered. Rowan slowly turned to look at Willow, who looked just as perplexed as he did, then he remembered the tree he cut down… _oh_ … he thought.

"The keyword is timber! Remember that next time you decide to cut down a tree, ya buffoon," he shoved Rowan back a few feet. But he was too caught up in his own thoughts to remember to hit him back, something that he really needed to work on.

"Watch who you're shoving!" Willow yelled, pushing the old man back in defense of her boyfriend, but to no prevail.

"Oh, so now you're the one wanting to start up some trouble, eh? Ya little tramp." He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and started to pull her towards him. That was when Rowan snapped back into reality and shouted.

"Get your dirty hands off of her!" He tried forcing his hands off, but the only helped provided were a group of peacekeepers who appeared just in time. They forced the old man away and started to put him in handcuffs.

"You smelly whippersnappers, this isn't the last you'll see of me!" The elder proclaimed before he was dragged off from the scene.

With widened eyes the couple looked at each other. Then, they burst out into laughter.

* * *

"Wanna race to the reaping?" Ashley asked. She eagerly wanted Juniper to say yes, because she really to train for the upcoming cross country race happening in a few hours, after the reaping.

Juniper sighed as she walked with Ashley. Sports, let aside racing, were not something that she was very fond of. She tried to ignore her friend's question. But, it seemed as if she was already about to run. Juniper sighed and let her pride down.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with, alright?" Without looking, Ashley nodded.

"Okay, _on your mark, get set, GO_!" She immediately sped off. Juniper was surprised to see that she was already halfway from the registration table. She also didn't really try too hard in catching up to her, just casually strolling as if nothing's happening. When Ashley made it to the end she patiently waited for her friend to catch up. It indeed took a while for her to finish her end of the race.

Nervously, the two signed in. They went off to their pen. Which was located at F-17, near the front of the crowd. Standing there was a job in itself as the anticipation slowly set in. Would they get picked? Or would they wouldn't have to worry about the thought when someone else gets chosen? Even then, they still one more year left to worry about.

Althea Whishart was the escort. She was considered extremely boring to the eyes of the district. But for some reason, the capitol decided to keep her. No one knew why.

"Let's just get to the point and choose some children to fight each other, shall we?" Ashley shivered at the normalness in which she had said that sentence. It wasn't exactly her day, she presumed. Then again, everyday wasn't her day.

"The girl tribute for District 7 will be…" she took time to glance up at the audience, who Ashley figured looked very terrified. She squinted her eyes in confusion as she saw just the slyest grin form on her face.

"Ashley Waters."

* * *

As much as Ashley wanted to believe that she was surprised. She just couldn't shake the fact that her name had been in there 20 times. More than the average amount one would take if they were in the same social class as her.

This didn't take away the horror that she felt at her own name being called out in the reaping. A few tears manage to slip out as she came into view to the rest of the audience and slowly began walking towards the stage. She trembled as she climbed up the steps and stood on the stage for all the cameras to gaze at her. She could barely get any notion out as she froze in her position. The only thing she was hoping for now was that Althea wouldn't ask her anything, for she doubted she could even open her mouth in that instance.

"It is now time to select the boy."

* * *

Rowan had nothing to worry about, considering it was his last year of eligibility and he had never taken any tesserae. He never needed it, his family was well off and he never had to work until he turned 15. But, that was when things started to take a turn for the worst. He still had no need to sign up for any extra slips.

He looked around to all the boys standing near him, he noted their nervous expressions, and he could've felt bad for them. If not for the fact that the escort now had a slip of paper in her hands and he had no time.

He decided not to hope for the best, but he would soon need to in the next moments to come.

"Rowan Blackwood, please come up to the stage."

His eyes went from a half-lidded state to the point where they extended beyond his eyebrows. He unfolded his arms and looked around, startled. For a moment, he could only stare at the escort, who's eyes were scanning the crowd, searching for anyone to emerge from their position. He'd almost forgotten that he'd been reaped. As they said back in the Capitol, from what he had learned in social studies, it went from 0 to 100 real quick.

Like a robot, he stiffly escaped the dense crowd, too overcome with shock to do anything but walk as if he'd been slowly injected with some kind of paralyzation drug. He walked to the stage, taking his spot next to Ashley, who he doubted would even be a threat to him, as she looked just as confused as he did.

Before they were hoarded off in the Justice Building, the escort placed a hand on both of their shoulder before announcing in her bluetooth microphone,

"As always, Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour."

Her expression couldn't be anymore neutral.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter, having to choose between the two females for this was a tough one. But, I hope** **you're** **proud of my decision. Anyways, as I say at the end of every chapter... Which tribute do you like better? And what impressions did each one give off to you? To the submitters, how did I do? I appreciate feedback.**

 **Thanks for the reviews from last chapter! How many did I get again? 5? That's awesome, for me, at least. I'd like it if we could extend beyond that by the time the next chapter hits!**

 **Until then.**


	6. District 6 Reapings

_Abbi Motorr, 12, District 6 Female_

Abbi wiped the sweat from her forehead as she changed the tires of the car she was working on. On regular days, her schedule went from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon. Normally, she enjoyed staying in her dad's garage working on cars. But, that day she was required to wake up and start working at around five in the morning, and she was less than pleased about that.

It wasn't like she could complain, her dad's shop was open 24/7. Considering that it was her first reaping, she had to manage those hours in before the reaping started, and it was a maintained tradition that after the reaping ended, everyone would go out to celebrate. Basically cutting the work day in half.

"Well, this has got to be the most tired that I have ever been," Abbi uttered to herself.

Through all the grogginess and slumped moves, she managed to finally replace all four tires of the car. She knew she wanted nothing less than to see a smile on her dad's face, after all he's been through, it was the least she could do for him. She gazed at her work, it was never as fast as her dad did it, but, it was done.

Her ears twitched to the sound of the door creaking open. She whirled her body around and immediately felt all of the tension get lifted off her shoulders.

"Abbi, my baby. I see you managed to repair the car!" Said Geare, Abbi's father.

"I sure did, dad!" Abbi replied joyously. She set aside the lug wrench she was holding and got up to hug Geare.

"I love you," Geare said softly into his daughter's ear. Abbi smiled and unwrapped the bandana she was wearing and shoved it into her cargo pants pocket. She always wore that thing to work, and through the years the color changed due to the moisture of sweat it had collected, as gross as it sounded, Abbi wouldn't trade that thing for a hundred bucks. She closed her eyes, all the while still hugging Geare.

"I love you too," she whispered back, chuckling.

"Dad, could I please stay over at Pilot's house for a while?"

Geare looked at Abbi discontentedly. He was looking forward to spending the remainder of the day with Abbi. To the Motorr's, reaping day was a time to spend with family and cherish the other's existence, just in case it was their last day together. _Just in case_ , Geare thought.

He sighed, he allowed his daughter to go but only if she would meet with him before the reapings started. Abbi happily agreed and hugged Geare once more, thanking him heavily before turning around and prancing out the garage.

Only a few seconds had passed before she stood in front of Pilot's house. The two households stood side by side, and that just made her promise to her father a whole lot easier.

Abbi knocked a few times on Pilot's garage door, erupting booming loud clangs on the metallic structure. She didn't have to wait long until she saw the garage door tilt up.

"Hi Pilot!" Abbi exclaimed happily. Pilot took his finger off the button that lifted up the garage door in relief as he noticed that it was just his friend.

"Hey Abbi," Pilot responded back sheepishly. The two smiled as Abbi walked over to him before both sitting down in the middle of the concrete floor.

"So, um, are you scared for your first reaping?" Pilot asked his friend, in a devilish yet concerning way. Abbi couldn't help but sneer at Pilot, but naturally, she answered in a estatic demeanor.

"Well, I'm a little nervous, but I'm not overly terrified. It's not like I'll be picked or anything," She said with a laugh. She wasn't the smartest girl around, but even she knew that her chances of getting reaping were virtually nonexistent. District 6 had the highest population out of all the other districts. Abbi would have to try if she even wanted to be selected.

Pilot agreed to her every word. Although, he did felt a sharp pang of guilt as soon as he asked that question. Pilot wasn't even of reaping age yet, he just had one more year left until he would have to deal with all the stress that comes when one is eligible to compete in the Hunger Games.

"Hey, what do you say we go for a walk around the square after the reaping? It'll be super duper fun!" Abbi suggested, trying to lift up the mood that she sensed was coming from the boy. Which seemed to work as the face of the otherwise gloomy 11 year-old seemed to light up.

"That sounds neat! Where do you suggest we go?"

"How about we go see those cool luxury cars on display in the city center?"

Pilot raised his eyebrows as to say, _again_? He hadn't quite understood Abbi's obsession with cars. But, that was what he liked about her. Not in a friendly like, but more so of a crush. He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that he had slight feelings for Abbi, but he was worried about whether Audi thought the same way.

As for Abbi, she saw something in Pilot that she didn't see in anyone else. It was almost as if her thoughts had been replaced entirely by him, her heart jumped whenever she would see him, to put it in perspective. It was ridiculous to Abbi, she had never felt that way before, but she knew it in her heart that things would work themselves together when the time came.

* * *

 _Henry Lexus, 13, District 6 Male_

"As Panem-Man, I hereby declare all Districts safe from further evil!" Henry exclaimed, to which he dramatically stared out the window of his room, as if he was a superhero.

"Oh yeah?" Axel, Henry's best friend said. "Well, I have a bunch of different tricks up my sleeve!"

Henry laughed, and the two started to have a play battle against each other, which Henry was winning. The two were having a good time, when suddenly the door to his bedroom opened, interrupting what could have been the most thrilling battle of all time.

"Hey, Panem-Man, breakfast is ready," retorted Ferrari, Axel's older sister. Henry sneered at her.

"Yeah, whatever." He took off the blanket he was wearing as a cape and threw it aside. He then sat down on his bed next to Axel, who was looking quite bored.

"Dude, how about we go to my house later today and you can look at all the new comics I got!" Axel said.

"Sorry dude, I can't, I have to help my mom campaign to be mayor. You know how she is," Henry replied. He didn't necessarily want to go and promote his mom's campaign to be the new mayor. The reason is he rarely ever got the chance to see her, and the one time he did get to see her was when she needed help running and looked to her family for help, which was baffling to Henry.

"Well, I have to go dude, see you later," Axel said. They both fist bumped before Axel walked out of the Lexus's three story house, leaving Henry by himself. He just wished that his mom didn't had such big dreams sometimes, at least when he was with her. He knew that it was a little selfish, but he just wanted some real time to spend with her. He sighed as he got ready to eat breakfast.

As soon as Henry took a step down the stairs, he saw his family all sitting together on the granite dining table. He went in and joined them, sitting next to his annoying little brother, Bentley, who tried to fling some food at his sister.

Everyone dug into their cheese omelets that their mother made. For an upper class District 6 resident, her cooking sure was phenomenal.

Henry had been going on and on about the newest edition of the comic book he was reading, _Jupiter Boy_ , which was about a boy given powers by a dying alien he found in the woods, who identified him as the bravest person on earth. His family just nodded slowly as he blabbered enthusiastically.

Diesel, Henry's father, was gazing at his son's report card, which had all A's. Diesel smirked as he set the paper down.

"Nice, Henry! I expected good grades coming from you, especially with you being the principal's son." Diesel said. Henry smiled warmly.

After everyone had finished their breakfast, Diesel got up from his chair to take all the dishes away, but Henry insisted that he'd do it, "Thanks, son! You really are a star pupil,"

Henry washed all the dishes before he climbed back up the stairs, but he stopped mid-way to catch his breath. As eager as he was personality wise, he got tired way too easily. He continued after a few seconds and went into his room, quietly closing the door behind him before he jumped on his bed and pulled out the newest edition of _Jupiter Boy_.

The author was Otto Herriot, a Capitolian. Out of all the Capitol approved comic books that he had collected, that was his favorite one. Henry was thankful that his District had been gifted with the privilege of being able to have these items, he wouldn't know what he would do with himself if he hadn't been given one of those when he was a kid.

He noticed that there were little white scribbles on the bottom of the cover page. _What? How come I've haven't noticed this before?_ He thought. He held the book close to his face so he could read the tiny writings, it read,

 _May the odds be ever in your favour._

* * *

"Stay close, darling." Geare said, holding his daughter's hand tightly as they both walked together to the square.

Abbi was awestruck by the dozens of luxury vehicles set for display behind a large glass panel. She wished she were riding one of those things so badly. But, she knew that she had to wait until she were a tad bit older, or until at least she could reach the pedals. Her fantasies were cut short when she heard a feminine voice roughly shout out in front of her,

"Next! Geez, how many times do I have to say it?" A peacekeeper muttered, Abbi shrugged and walked up to her.

"Hand," she ordered. To which Abbi held out her hand, she grabbed it and pricked a little bit of blood out from her finger tip before placing it on a sheet. Abbi didn't feel a thing.

Although, she found herself grabbing her finger with her other hand nervously as she walked over to her age group. She turned her head wanting to catch a sight of her father again, just to assure her that everything was going to be okay. When Geare gave her an encouraging nod, Abbi smiled and continued walking to her section.

Frederika Corona was gazing proudly at the extremely large crowd of people, she was a thin woman in her early 40's, wearing a dress that looked as if it was made out of tires, which was supposed to resemble the District's industry, but everyone pretty much saw it as a cringey way to represent themselves.

Once everyone was settled into their sections, Frederika began her speech. "Greetings residents of District Six! It is such an honor to come forth and be able to announce your heroes for this year's Hunger Games!"

Only a handful of people cheered. Abbi raised her head to see who they were, but the only thing she saw were the humongous crowd of 13 year-old's. It pretty much stunk being in the back of such a large crowd. She could barely even hear the escort speak, even with the microphone she was talking into. Although, she could see that the escort was about to announce the names, she saw her walking over to the girl's bowl filled with thousands of pink slips. Frederika inserted her hand deep and thoroughly through the bowl. She picked one and took her arm out. It took Abbi a second to fully realize she was about to read the name she had just chosen.

"The female tribute coming from the fantastic District Six will be… Abbi Motorr!"

* * *

Henry squinted his eyes as he looked around the whole of the crowd, searching for Abbi Motorr, he couldn't see anyone of the sort, until he saw about 5 peacekeepers strutting towards someone behind him. Everyone watched in horror as they hoisted up a shocked looking 12 year-old by her arms and carried her down the long empty space between two very angry looking people, and up the stage.

Henry couldn't believe what he had just witnessed, he had never seen a 12 year-old from his District get reaped before. In a District that was as large as his was just astronomical, and yet, no one volunteered for that poor girl.

Frederika pursed her lips, as to show disappointment. She was expecting someone more fit to show up, and that girl defiantly didn't seem too eager to compete. Speaking of the girl, was still frozen in shock and her eyes were wide open. Frederika just patted her hair bun and strutted to the microphone again. "It's time for the boys!"

Henry gulped, but he knew he wouldn't be as unlucky as the girl who was chosen. If he did, then he would only have science to blame. Never had he ever taken tesserae, his family was too rich for that. As Frederika plucked out a blue piece of a paper from the opposing bowl, Henry didn't even cross his fingers.

"The boy tribute who will be serving District Six will be… Henry Lexus!"

 _Oh_ … Was the only thing that Henry thought. He didn't know how to react, he had never expected for it to happen to him, and so he didn't know how to react. He tried cowering down so no one would see him, but that just made it easier for people to point him out. Now he knew that he had no choice but to start heading to the stage.

He tried putting on a brave face as he mount the steps, even though he was very frightened and didn't want to be there. Instead, he accidentally tripped over his own feet in front of all the cameras. His face turned red when as realized that.

Frederika nervously laughed and gestured Henry to stand next to Abbi. The two children seemed like little ants to the thousands of people of the district. Abbi still couldn't believe that she had been chosen, her eyes scanned the district center, searching for anyone still eager enough to volunteer, but, it was too late for that now. Before the peacekeepers started to surround the two to herd them off into the Justice Building, Frederika gave one last sentence as her final speech.

"I hope to you all a Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Abbi and Henry shook hands.

* * *

 **I'm back!** **So, what did you think of Abbi and Henry? Do you like or hate them? Do you see them as bloodbaths? Out of all the tribute's I've introduced so far, who do you think would make a good ally for Abbi or Henry? I still appreciate constructive tips.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Or Hanukkah if you're Jewish! You get my point.**

 **Until then!**


	7. Goodbyes: Part 1

**A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of rape**

 **District 10**

"You have to make it back! You can't just leave us!" Hayley's mother wailed. She recoiled at the intense notion in which her mother had screamed that sentence. She couldn't even fathom the amount of stress she was harboring at the moment, and the next thing she knew she was dealing with all sorts of emotions during her final goodbyes.

"Mom, stop, you're going to make me cry," Hayley croaked. Dotty drooped her eyes in sadness to that, and allowed more tears to fall from her face as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug.

"Hayley, no matter what, they're never going to be able to take you away from us, you're always going to be lying in a place within our hearts."

Hayley wasn't sure whether to feel comfortable in her mother's grasp or disgusted that she actually thought she wouldn't be coming back. After going over her beliefs a few more times, she concluded that she was right. She wasn't going to make it back, much to her parents distraught. She would just have to deal with the horrible guilt that she would let everyone in her district down, and even worse, her family.

Rhine lingered outside the door for a few minutes, not wanting to make any confrontation just yet. He would have to wait until his parents were out so he could talk to Hayley privately, he didn't want anyone, not even his parents, to know the information that he was about to tell her.

Suddenly, a peacekeeper finalized his foot tapping and swung open the wooden door. Rhine chose not to watch as the peacekeeper yelled at his parents to move on. He peered his head out from the corner to see two whimpering adults scurry from the large, upscale room. Before his parents exited the Justice Building, Dotty turned to look at her only son. Giving him a look that told him, "do your best," Rhine nodded solemnly.

"Hey," he announced as he stepped foot inside of the room. A little taken back by the loudness of the door slamming shut behind him. He watched Hayley's shocked expression slowly turn into a somewhat concerned look. Rhine smiled and kneeled down in front of his sister, knowing that she is most comfortable around the presence of her big brother.

"I got you this," he opens his hand to allow a sight of what was lying in it. Hayley narrows her eyebrows as she notices her mother's black hairclip. A strange object for her to be given in the current circumstance, "Turn around."

Without questioning, Hayley slowly turned her body around. Allowing her thick dark brown head of hair to come into full view for Rhine, who smiled as he gathered up a clump of hair from her scalp and form it into a bun before attaching the hairclip. Hayley turned around. Her gaze fixed upon her reflection coming from the enchanting mirror on the wall. Her former long, silky hair now a beautiful clipped piece. Hayley switched her attention back to Rhine. Who looked at her with wondrous eyes.

"Wow, you're beautiful,"

* * *

Belinda felt a tinge of guilt as she allowed the silver necklace to swirl from the grips of her fingers to fall onto her son's hand. Nox looked at the rare piece of jewelry, hoping that his pride was enough to give him a sense of confidence as he scanned his mother's face for any signs of regret.

"Ma, are you sure about this?" He questioned, not really understanding why he was being given her wedding gift.

"Nox, your father and I love you very much. As much as our marriage means to us, we would much rather you have it right now, please take it."

Nox looked down at his token. He squinted his eyes and could make out the word _Endurance_ engraved onto the solid edge. "It belonged to your father first, and then he gave it to me as we got married. It's been in our generation for a long time." There was a long moment of silence as Belinda folded her hands together while staring at the ground, taking a moment to force back her tears. Nox wasn't really keen on seeing tears being shed, so he just looked down as his mother choked back a sob.

"-And I know," that time, a few tears did manage to slip. "That you're going to make it back to us, to your district."

Nox gazed at the shimmering jewel. He never asked for any of this to happen, and he absolutely hated the burden being placed right on him. He grit his teeth as he became trapped in his own thoughts, letting nothing but past memories sink into him.

"Nox," his mother tried to snap him back to reality, but to no prevail. Nox heard a high-pitched whining coming from below his knees. He met stares with Buck, who was fortunately brought in by Belinda, who knew how much her son treasured his beloved canine. Although, she really couldn't see the dog past a mangy mutt.

Nox's frown soon turned into a joyful smirk. He bent down to reach Buck's soft fur and rubbed the spot between his ears.

Nox heard the doors open, signifying that his goodbyes were over, unfortunately.

"Time's up, let's go," the Peacekeeper said nonchalantly, creating a short stick of surprise. The peacekeeper had taken a few steps into the room, not long after he noticed the dog sitting next to the chosen tribute.

"Hey, get that fucking dog out of here." He harshly yelled. Belinda jumped up in fright and cowered as she started taking Buck back outside, Nox spoke up.

"No, we weren't done talking yet, we have another two minutes." He sternly explained, pointing at the clock. The peacekeeper gave Nox a harsh glare, before unsheathing his baton and pointing it to the ground, inventing what looks to be a much longer version of the weapon. "I said, time's up."

At that point, Buck started growling at the creepy man who was pointing the baton at them. The peacekeeper was starting to edge closer and closer to the group. Nox was holding Buck back by the collar to prevent him from attacking the peacekeeper, but it was too late.

Once the dog barked once at the peacekeeper, he pulled out a gun. Nox opened his mouth to protest, but he had already lost grip of the savagely barking dog. His heart skipped a beat as soon as his fingers lost grip of his collar.

" _BUCK, NO!_ "

 _ **BANG!  
BANG!**_

 _ **District 4**_

Grace watched as Aurora made her way toward the door as commanded by a peacekeeper. Aurora turned around and winked as she looked at Grace. "Bye babe, I'll miss you," Aurora finally said, Grace rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, It won't even take me that long to come back." She yelled back, to which Aurora let out a small laugh before exiting the room, leaving Grace alone in the vividly decorated room. She decided to look around, gazing at the aquatic designs and the many portraits dictating treasure chests underwater. Grace had then wondered whether her father, Prosper, had seen sights such as these on his journeys out to sea.

Speaking of which, Grace whirled around to find the sight of her parents making their way through the doors. She kept her gaze solidly fixed on them, waiting for either of them to speak up.

"Well, you did it," Prosper chastised.

Grace raised an eyebrow at him, "I'll come back." She gruffed, waiting for a response from him, but the only thing she received were a pair of devious eyes.

"I had to do it for Constance," she continued. Pure, her mother, had decided to speak up from that point.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Grace. You and I both know that killing more innocent kids isn't going to bring Constance back."

"It's not all about bringing her back, Pure." Pure narrowed her eyes at the way her daughter called her by her first name.

"It's about maintaining her name, and what would you know about that? You didn't even kill anyone in your games."

"Probably, but I am still capable of knowing limitations, and you, Grace, have no idea what you just got yourself into."

"She's right, Grace."

Grace looked back and forth between her parents, not entirely sure how she should respond to the situation. Of course, there was no turning back, and with her parents not agreeing with her decision to volunteer was dizzying. She kept her arms crossed and eyebrows raised as she stood listening to her parents.

"Listen, if you're going to compete, at least try to win? I know you Grace Harbor, and how you just love to slack off at any given moment. In the games there won't be any time for you to slack off, you'd be dead before you even know you're daydreaming. I want you to fully understand the gravity of the situation you're in right now, and think of all the possible solutions you could muster that can make you win," as Pure said that, Grace was busily focused on the silver necklace dangling from her neck. A colored picture of Constance laid printed under the glass of the pendant. For the first time in her whole life, she felt shame, quite ironic for someone as promiscuous as her.

Grace sighed.

"Just leave," she said. Pure and Harbor looked at her with a look of pure foul. Finally, they figured that wasting their time with Grace would ultimately cause more grays to sprout on their heads. So, they left.

After the doors closed with her parents on the other side. Grace looked up and met gazes with a hunky peacekeeper. She smirked, before walking up to him and resting her elbow on top of his broad shoulder, much to his surprise.

"Hey," she said as nonchalantly yet seductive as possible.

* * *

Brine didn't see the immense danger he had put himself in prior to being shoved in the blue and gray room. The only thing his mind was focused on were the various portraits arranged very neatly along the sky blue plastered wall. Paintings of victors to former Capitol senators lit up the room, competing with the basking sunlight surging through the bay window. Brine noted that most of the people in the portraits had on traditional district attire composing of coats made out of whale blubber, to gowns made entirely of pearls. He studied the beauty of the apparel, going over how he used to spend some time fabricating these very articles. He had no regrets, however, of volunteering to save that poor boy.

The wooden doors creaked open. Skipper Larson entered with his arm around his girlfriend, Francine, who Brine unfortunately knew from the academy. Lynlee was right behind them.

"Brine!" Lynlee exclaimed, running up to Brine before enveloping him into a compassionate hug. Brine desperately tried not to show the littlest of negative emotion as he was getting love from his family, but he just couldn't help it.

"Guys, I don't know what I'd do without you." He squealed. Francine stepped forward.

"Don't worry too much Brine, we're very proud of you." Brine remembered the exact moment he had volunteered for that Kersey boy, he hadn't seen him anywhere prior to the reaping. Which Brine figured he must've resided in a different district sector, from the looks of his olive skin, dark hair and eyes. He had the same genealogy of the poor residents.

"Do you still remember everything I've taught you in training?" Francine asked. Brine pressed his lips together and nodded.

"Good, I hope you'll use that to your full advantage." Her face showed hope, while her eyes showed remorse. She looked at Lynlee, who stood there waiting eagerly to speak out. When Lynlee received a short nod from Francine, she quickly reached into her pocket, where she pulled out a silver ring, and laid it onto Brine's palm. He took only one look at the ring's credentials, before he briskly shoved it into his pocket, his heartbeat racing.

Lynlee looked down, tears welled up in her grey eyes. "I miss her," she whispered, loud enough for Brine to hear so clearly. He put on a serious face before wrapping Lynlee in his arms once more. He ran his hand through her thick, dark brown hair, and Brine couldn't help that his eyes started to get glossy.

"Time's up," the Clemont's all turned toward the direction of the voice at once. They were shocked and saddened to see their time had already ran out.

Brine sighed and stared straight into Lynlee's eyes. She stared back at him while their father watched without saying a word.

"Keep training Lynlee, I know you'll be an excellent tribute someday." Lynlee nodded, knowing that her training at the Jalisco Sector Academy would pay off nicely in the long run.

"Let's go..." A peacekeeper yelled, while he grabbed Lynlee's wrist along with the others being forced out of the room as well.

"Let me go you cretin!" Lynlee screamed as she was dragged outside the Justice Building. Brine rolled his eyes, wishing that the nerve Lynlee had would abruptly stop, otherwise she may be in for some punishment.

Brine regarded his silent father, he wondered why he wasn't saying anything, but with the literal end of their meeting. It seemed as if there was no point to be wondering.

"Where's my buddy, Brine? I want to see him!" As his family was roughly escorted out of the Justice Building, he immediately recognized the voice of no other than-

"Mako," Brine croaked.

"Brine Clemont, back at it again with saving the day!" Brine found himself being engulfed by Mako and Nema. His depression started to fade from that point on, his friends were huge Hunger Games advocates. If it meant volunteering for a tournament that could mean the difference between life and death, they were completely in.

"I never expected you to volunteer! I was like, "What the hell is this guy doing?" But I have tremendous hope for you, pal. I have a feeling you're going to do good." Brine smiled and thanked Mako for his kind words. Nema gulped and reached into her jacket pocket, where she yanked out a sand dollar, she was slightly irritated that she now had sand all over her new reaping dress, but at the moment she tried not to care too much.

"Is that what I think it is?" Brine exclaimed. Nema nodded slowly and held the round object in her hands, taking a little moment to observe the imprint the sea urchin left behind. She extended her arms out, to which Brine took the item. Brine was more surprised than grateful, considering that he didn't even know Nema still kept that.

"If you don't already have a token, you can have that." Brine looked at the solid sand device, he looked up to meet Nema's eyes for a moment.

"Thank you so much Nema." He said, disregarding the ring Lynlee gave him just a couple minutes prior.

The trio checked the clock. They were surprised to find out how much time had passed already. Mako sighed, looking at Nema.

"I guess I'll head on now. I'll leave you two alone." Brine watched with confusion as Nema left, he looked at Mako, whose head was facing was the ground, his hands were deep in his pockets.

"Brine, just one last thing before I go too…"

Mako held Brine's face with both hands as he pressed his lips against his. Brine's eyes shot wide open and he took a couple steps back to prevent Mako from kissing him any longer, but Mako had grabbed Brine's wrists and held them at his sides to stop further resistance. Brine stood there for a good few seconds, all the while wondering if he should resist, or allow it to happen.

The door started to open, to which Mako quickly released him and started walking back to the hall. He turned back and gave Brine a wink as before continuing on. Leaving Brine in a state of utter shock.

When the peacekeeper dragged Mako outside and the door slammed shut, Brine let go of his sand dollar.

 _ **District 7**_

Ashley sat staring at the door. After all that had happened over the last twenty minutes, she realized that she no longer had the energy it took to grieve. It was like she forgot what her whole life stood for. Was she ever going to be a cross country star? Was she ever going to travel the country to knit sweaters for unfortunate kids? Was she ever going to take her interest in painting seriously?

She briefly sighed as she thought of the answer. She was never going to do those things, it was obvious. Not in a place like that, not if she was ever going to come back to District 7.

Her mother, along with her brothers came barging through the door. Ashley noted that Cedar wasn't with them.

 _What a surprise_ , she thought sarcastically.

"ASHLEY!" Her little sister, Misty, screamed, running up to her and burying her face in her stomach.

 _It was not likely_.

Ashley desperately wanted to curl in a ball and wail like the sorry wolf she felt at that moment. The logical part of her held her back from doing so. She lowered herself down to Misty's level. Her bottle green eyes shimmered from the mauve colored walls, making the scheme seem a little like a yearly festival amongst the wealthy in Seven, they called it "Shrove Tuesday."

"Please, fight for us. Kill if you have to, just find a way to make it back home." Misty muffled into her primrose dress. Ashley sighed, the gravity of the games had definitely made it through her head. It was only a matter of time before she finally got a sense of what it was really like living in Panem. Ashley's frown grew stronger as replays rolled through the pinnacles of her mind of glass breaking, a hoarse voice screaming at the end of her bed as her hands tried to cover both her eyes and ears.

" _You're quite dense, aren't you_?"

" _If you're daddy knew you were gonna turn out like that, he'd abort you instantly_."

" _Bitch, you're nothing to me!_ "

Ashley's face twisted into a terrifying scowl. Memories of her being force held onto her bed flooded her mind, the only thing she could breath and basically see was Cedar's booze-ridden breath being huffed in a rhythmic tone. Her screams and begs for mercy proved to be no prevail. A few tears trickled from Ashley's bloodshot eyes. She scoffed.

"Ashley, a-are you feeling okay?" Misty painfully asked. Ashley breathed in and out through her flared nose. "

"No, I am not feeling okay."

There was no point in lying to her. Both she and the rest of her family knew for a fact that she was not okay. She wanted to scream, she wanted to stomp and tear down the walls, and she just wanted to go to hell already and pull _Cedar_ along with her. If she was going to die a bloody death, then who'd be at home caring for Misty while the others are at work, especially when Cedar occasionally barges inside the house looking for more booze. Ashley silently screamed.

"Time's up, get out." Misty turned her head only to have her arm harshly dragged from the room. Robin and Rowan along with her mother was momentarily escorted out as well. The swish of the door blew wind in her face.

A few seconds passed by depressingly. Until finally the door opened once more. Ashley expected it to be Lully and Juniper, but no.

"Birch…" She whispered. Birch smiled solemnly.

* * *

"That damned escort, who does she think she is?" Willow exclaimed. She paced back and forth across the room until finally taking a seat on one of the forest green chairs, placing her hands over her face.

"It's not her fault, Willow, it was just an unfortunate event that happened, that's all…"

Willow glared at Rowan, tears now evident in her pale olive skin. Rowan raised an eyebrow.

" _Just_ an unfortunate event?! You could fucking die, Rowan! Please tell me how this whole fucking situation is just an unfortunate event, you sad excuse for a man!" Willow yelled. Rowan crossed his arms, anger then boiling up inside him.

"Excuse me, missy, but it's almost as if you think it's suddenly _my_ fault I got randomly chosen. Are you really that ignorant or are you just that hostile?" He fired back. Willow glared at him harshly, a few sputters emitted from her mouth as he tried to collect herself in the immense gravity of the situation. Finally, she countered.

"Hostile, do you really think I'm being the hostile one!? You've been nothing but a helicopter parent over me these past two years! You always want to get in my business whenever I'm with a male friend, and you're always telling me what to and not to wear! Do you not have any fucking clue as to what I'm trying to say to you?"

The fire that left her throat created no response on Rowan's part for a moment. He stared straight into Willow's blue eyes, and thought, _this was not the girl I fell in love with a couple years ago_. Rowan thought about it for a moment, and thought maybe he was being a little clingy in the relationship. But that didn't excuse the shocking words he just heard being shot right at him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling it all through his nose, the last thing he wanted to do was argue, let alone scream, and he so desperately wished he could have. He had built up so much baggage over the years, and he wanted nothing more than to let it all out. He knew he had to relieve himself soon, because there would be no time or place to do it in the Capitol.

Rowan recounted the time when he caught her making out with a random stranger over by the bridge. He opened his eyes and was ready to throw that girl off of her fucking pedestal.

"Willow, would you please do me a favor and take your smut-ridden ass out of my line of sight. I never want to see you or your fugly boyfriends ever again." The way he had said that was done so calmly, and yet it seemed to have sparked some more anger in Willow's system. She returned a few callous remarks towards Rowan before whirling around and stepping out of the room. Rowan was almost certain that would be the last time he ever got to see her, and he was glad.

"Son, what was that all about?" He heard his father rolling in through the wooden doors. He cast a sorrow glance to his father. His wheelchair seemed to be a little unhatched, so Rowan walked over to him and started fixing a few faults, Cypress smiled.

"Nothing, dad. Just some business I needed to take care of."

 _ **District 6**_

"Let go of me! I don't want to be here!" Abbi screamed as it took three peacekeepers to drag her inside the waiting room. Once they threw her in and shut the doors, she scrambled to her feet and ran over to the dark metal doors, pounding it loudly with her fists while her screams were drowned out by the metallic clangs. A peacekeeper opened the door and told her to shut up, Abbi silently complied.

As the minutes passed, Abbi wondered if anyone was going to visit her. It would have been so ludicrous if not. She would have not harbored any hope for the following week to come. She angrily pulled at her hair, causing her headband to accidentally fall off, she didn't bother picking it back up.

She heard the creepy sound of the door creaking open once more and looked up, expecting to see her father, but instead, Pilot came scooting nervously into the room. Abbi widened her eyes and ran up to the shy little boy from next door.

"Pilot, what the heck am I going to do…" She wailed as she tightly hugged him, which caused Pilot to instantly blush. He had no idea what to do or say, he was suggested to go and say goodbye to her from his parents, who were waiting outside the grey metal doors. He just patted her back as tears streamed down the back of his neck, falling onto his green shirt.

"It's okay, Abbi, everything's going to be okay. I know you and I know that you are perfectly capable of winning." Pilot desperately hoped that helped in calming Abbi down a bit, so he could further continue his affirmation.

Abbi choked back another wave of tears as she tried to thank Pilot for his kind gesture. "Thanks, Pilot, but how am I capable of winning? Face it, I'm nothing once I reach the arena."

"You are, and do you know how many times you've helped me fixing down those shitty cars in my dad's garage? From what I learned in my eleven years of existence, you could use that knowledge for so many other things."

Abbi figured he had a point, but she couldn't recount using her skill of technology for anything other than - well, fixing cars. Abbi didn't know what else to say. As she looked at Pilot, wondering what other advice he could hit her with, his hands went behind his back in a nervous manner. Abbi didn't notice his rosy red cheeks and nervous foot tapping.

"I don't know if this'll even make any difference at all, but… I think I like you."

After the words had sank in, Abbi's cheeks went bright red. Her bandanna stuck out from her short pockets, and she slowly took a hold of a handful of fabric and held onto it tightly. She didn't know if Pilot meant that in a romantic way, or a friendly way. If the latter was true, then she'd be completely confused. Of course she saw Pilot as a friend, they had been friends since kindergarten. If anything, they were best friends. But if she added it all up, then only the former would be right

"Do you mean… in a romantic way?" She uttered. Pilot took a deep breath and confided in his psyche to keep him alert in every way possible. He nodded slowly, Abbi supposed so.

"Oh…" Abbi felt obliged to share her own feelings as well, but being in the current situation. It would have just felt like a promise she had to make. Her eyes wandered over to the doors behind Pilot, who was expecting a better response. He sighed and crossed his arms once he realized Abbi was not going to say anything.

Pilot lingered around for a bit, he only realized he had froze up when the door opened, revealing a stagnant peacekeeper looming over by the door. Pilot took that as a signal to leave, he didn't say anything else to Abbi as he left.

Abbi crossed her arms and waited for her father to show up. There was nothing else in the world she wanted more than to be in his arms again. When the door opened once more, Abbi's image came to life.

"Abbi, I love you so, _so_ much. I can give you the entire _world_ and that wouldn't even be enough for you."

Tears blocked her vision, she closed them and set her chin on her father's back. She didn't want to cry, as it would take a while to recover from the stuffy nose and red eyes, but she just couldn't control herself.

"Dad, I'm scared." She uttered as her fists carried some fabric from Geare's work clothes. If what she watched on TV was true, then she might as well start preparing to put up a believable happy face, but everything in her heart and soul told her to wait a little. If she was going to die, she was going to die with closure.

"I know you are, sweetie, I am too." Geare sniffed as a few tears slid down his stubble. He put his face in Abbi's hair and stroked her delicate strands. Redemption was at the top of his wish list.

* * *

Henry watched his family leave. His mother, Kia, had been ranting about the unfairness the District had when it came to politicians children. Henry was trying to pay attention, but he was just way too sickened to comply.

He already knew Axel was coming to visit him. So he spent the next few minutes pacing around the room. He just couldn't deal with standing still in the especially dire event. The door opened and sure enough, Axel came through, wearing a small black backpack and a look of sympathy.

"Hey, man." He dryly said. Henry smiled.

"Are you feeling okay? I really hope you are…" Axel put a hand on his shoulder. Henry gulped before replying.

"I mean… it's not _everyday_ you get picked to go through a week in the Capitol only to get muthafuckin' slayed," he exclaimed. To which Axel snickered a bit at Henry's content mindset, before sighing. Realizing what exactly his mindset is geared to.

Axel looked around the room, searching for any cameras that might have been watching him before he tried something. A look of confusion met Axel's vision as he pulled off his backpack. Henry wondered what Axel was doing, but as he aimed the bag towards the floor, dumping what might have been hundreds upon hundreds of comic book editions all over the floor, he then realized how much of a snark Axel became.

"Oh, you." Henry laughed, after which Axel grinned. The two of them sat down on either sides of the mass pile of graphic novels. Henry couldn't believe what he was seeing, what must've been all of the books he'd read in his life was there. Axel laughed at Henry's shocked expression, even though it was pretty much what he'd picture his face to be.

"Dude, this is awesome," he exclaimed. "How are we going to find enough time to read these? I mean…"

"I just told the peacekeepers I was friends with the son of Kia Lexus. You should have seen the looks on their faces, dude. They agreed to give me a few more minutes, which is perfect considering how close we are to finishing _Menace Void_ ," he answered. Henry ran a hand through his damp hair. He didn't even know how hot the room was until then, or it might have been the adrenaline pumping from the amazing scene.

They both picked up twin copies of _Menace Void_ , which was about a Capitol scientist, Professor Void, researching the effects of morphling overdose. When suddenly an earthquake hit the area, causing chaos through the city and land, and that included an accidental mixing of chemicals in his lab. In a panic, he attempted to expel the chemicals down the the waste compartment, which resulted in him tripping over his own feet, dumping some of the chemicals over his eyes. Professor Void transformed into a tall, meeble monster with glowing blue eye sockets and white claws, wreaking havoc throughout the Capitol.

Intrigued, Henry quickly flipped through the book. After he finished he set it down, picked up another one, and began reading the next book.

* * *

 **I honestly have no excuse for my absence. I've been busy with school and all, but I could have easily updated within 3 weeks. I hope you forgive me and my laziness. To make it up to you… I'm going to come out with the next chapter either tomorrow or this week, since I have monday off. I have already chosen the tributes for the district and I hope everyone's happy with my decision. :)**

 **I decided to include a goodbye chapter after every 4 reapings, just so the tributes could still be relatively fresh in your mind. (Even though you probably forgot most of them right now).**

 **Here are some questions I made for you:  
**

 **1\. Which was the best overall district? Which was the most boring?**

 **2\. Who's your favorite tribute in this chapter?**

 **3\. If I wrote your tribute, how'd I do? I want completely honest answers, so feel free to go full force.**

 **4\. Any other criticism?**

 **5\. What unanswered questions are you most excited about finding out?**

 **Thank you so much for reading! I know some of you may have decided to leave, and I completely understand that. But just so all of you know, this SYOT will NOT be abandoned. I pledge that I will complete the reapings before spring begins… So I will do twice of what I did in four months in less than two.**

 **Also, I have the outlier of my plot all figured out at this point, and all I need to fill in the missing pieces is more tributes. All tribute slots have been submitted to, but I'd still appreciate getting some more subs.**

 **I'm creating this thing where I add these riddles at the end of every chapter, which dictate hints as to what district is coming next. As of now there are no rewards to those who solve it, it's just a fun little game to keep you thinking when you finish reading. :)**

 **The riddle is:**

 _ **Rioting is looked down upon, but shining is imminent.**_

 **Until then!**


	8. District 1 Reapings

_Zephyr Glasgow, 18, District 1 Female_

Zephyr pinched the sides of her cerulean dress as she stepped over a collection of shattered glass and a puddle of red wine. Her nose wrinkled at the intense odor coming from the ground and she quickly scooted away from the Training Academy's foyer, past a group of drunk and hardy men behaving like swine.

"Oh, Zephyr! You're finally here!" Trilled the president of District One's Training Academy, Amordazar Llovizna. Zephyr winced slightly when the man grinned, revealing a set of foul teeth. She tried not to show too much emotion when he continued his conversation.

"I almost thought you weren't going to arrive! Ooo, you are in for a dandy treat! Come, darling!" Amordazar ushered Zephyr toward him, when they walked through the set of double doors, Zephyr noticed that the gymnasium held almost no one within view. She glanced at the janitor at the far end of the huge room, who was too busy pushing a pile of plastic cups together with a broom. It was now evident that the prime of the celebration was done and over with. Zephyr looked around with a face full of worry and confusion, to which Amordazar chuckled a little as he started walking backwards towards the table arrangements and banquet. Zephyr thoughtlessly edged towards him a little, before she was taken back by a sudden roller coaster of people popping up from the depths of the tables and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"SURPRISE!" Zephyr gasped and shrieked in excitement as she covered her mouth with her hands. The scream had been followed by a thick wave of laughter and congratulatory remarks to the 18-year-old.

"Oh my gosh, you guys didn't have to do this!" She squealed with joy as she slowly walked through the crowd of people happily laughing among themselves.

"Come on now, Zephyr, how else would we have celebrated the special day our chosen volunteer finally got the chance to shine?" Amordazar said, looking content with Zephyr's reaction to the surprise party thrown for her.

"Aww, you guys are the best," she gawked at the hundreds of people throwing positive comments her way.

She popped open a bottle of champagne and poured a portion of it into a shiny new glass, being extra careful not to spill some of it on her dress. She held the stem carefully and whirled around to face everyone in the crowd, where she raised the glass over her head.

"To a Happy Hunger Games!" She exclaimed, the crowd raised the glasses they were holding and chanted the statement. Zephyr grinned and took a small sip of the sparkling wine, for she didn't want to get too tipsy. She glanced at the clock, it read _3:16,_ the reaping was planned to begin a couple hours later, so while the celebrating was going on, she decided to have a look around the place while she still had time to enjoy her life before becoming victor in District One.

A girl, who looked to be sixteen, confronted Zephyr as she was engaging in slight small talk with a few mentors.

"Zephyr Glasgow?" She asked, keeping her hands behind her back with an alluring look in her eyes. Zephyr turned her head to the sound of her name and instantly recognized the sleek blonde hair and pointy chin to be that of the mayor's daughter.

"Yeah, what do you want?" She retorted, taking a sip of her drink. The girl looked a little surprised by that, but kept her face sealed with the dainty demeanor she wanted to be presented as.

She extended her arm, curling the corners of her lips upwards in a beautiful smile, "Diamond Cortex, future Hunger Games contender, and before you ask; yes, I'm the daughter of Mayor Cortex."

Zephyr lowered her drink and glowered at the priss that had the boldness to even stand before her. She darted her eyes down at her hand, which had an unnatural gloss to it.

"Um, quick question; do you wash your hands with _Dieu Complexe_ hand soap?" She retorted, studying the girl's narrowed eyes and took a mental note of her then blushed cheeks.

"Why yes, yes I do," she stammered/answered with the same amount of bitterness she was hit with.

"That's what I figured, now go do me a favor and don't ever come near me again, distasteful plebeian."

The second before Diamond could open her mouth in response, Zephyr's gaze was flew up to a tall figure standing right beside her. Her heart might as well just jumped to her throat.

"Ah, good afternoon ladies! Diamond, Zephyr, I'd have guess you two have already met." A soft smile met Zephyr eyes. She widened her eyes in shock and began stammering as she tried to come up with a clever reply to that. Diamond glowered, her arms crossed while Alistair wrapped an arm around his fiancé, who was about ready to claw Zephyr's eyelids off.

"Yes we have babe, but I figured she had forgotten who I was, considering her incompetence. So I decided that a second introduction was necessary." Alistair raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he quickly shook his head and allowed Diamond to caress his soft hand.

"Anyways, now that I finally got a chance to know what kind of girl she _really_ is like, I think we should take a break from all these fake people and have some real fun."

Diamond directed to Alistair, while still staring harshly at Zephyr. She tugged his sleeve to guide him towards the restroom, to which Alistair warily looked from Diamond to Zephyr, and back to Diamond again, before finally giving Zephyr an apologetic look while he turned around with Diamond secured in his arms, who looked pleased she won over his compliance as she looked up at Alistair.

Zephyr's face turned bright red, she wanted to scream and throw the biggest tantrum in the world. _Oh_ , how she hated that wretched tramp who stole her man. Of course, she knew about their relationship for quite a while, but that didn't stop her from still hooking up with Alistair behind her back, but that bitch was just too much too deal with sometimes. She wanted to yell out to them as they were walking about her hook ups, but it would surely damaged her close ties with Alistair for sure, and she did not want anything coming between her and him. That bitch Diamond might as well been a ghost, absolutely nothing could break the bond between Zephyr and the hunk of a trainer, Alistair.

At times, Diamond felt like a small hurdle Zephyr had to jump over in order to get to Alistair, and other times, she was like a fucking brick wall. She was so young, too, it didn't make any sense.

"Alistair, wait up!" She shouted, pulling up her dress as she ran over to where the two were just about to exit through the backdoor.

"Alistair, tell me," she started seductively tracing the buttons on his suit, hoping that would stir something in him. The only reaction given to her was a annoyed look, Zephyr read it as a plea, and she kept going. "Why aren't you with me instead of her? Remember all the nice times we used to have together, picking up roses from the meadow and watching the sunset? You could still have that, if you just broke up with her and marry me instead," she desperately hoped that would convince him enough to change his mind about Diamond, there was nobody more in the world that which she wanted all to herself.

"Get over yourself hoe! He doesn't love you, now get out of here and go die in the games or something…"

A chord was struck in Zephyr, and her lip began wobbling with the mysterious feeling of defeat. Steam practically fumed from her ears as her face turned a brighter shade of red and her fists were raised up at her, but she was quick to let it go, remembering her promise to herself.

A shiny katana was mounted up neatly in the interior of the training academy, along with other a plethora of other weapons as well. Zephyr wondered if it were worth it to use it to cut off the wretch's fingers with, she struggled to resist her motive before finally deciding against it, taking another look at Alistair and Diamond, who both shared the same shadowy look, before pushing past them outside, running away to her house as tears flooded her chartreuse eyes, she swallowed back a retch as her heels clicked against the cobblestone track. If her shoes gave out anytime soon, her hope for humanity likely would've been destroyed.

"Wait, you didn't even give your congratulatory speech yet!" She heard Amordazar yell after her while she scurried in the afternoon sun. That only made more tears fall from her face as she kept her center vision fixated on the cluster of houses in the distance.

She finally made it to her home after what felt like an eternity and locked herself in her room, sobbing loudly as her legs were sprawled out in different directions and her hands pulling her auburn hair in a fit of rage. She made out the indefinite shape her dresser through her hazy vision and crawled over to it, reaching her arm out to grab her plush orange teddy bear.

"FUCK YOU DIAMOND! YOU FUCKING ANNOYING TWAT!" She picked up a sharp blade from a broken wine glass that was previously on her carpeted floor, and plunged it deep into the teddy bear's buttoned eye. She made a sickening screech/wail as the blade touched the back of the bear's head, poking the carpet beneath in the process.

With each laceration into the fluffy surface of the toy she made, she imagined the deafening screams of Diamond playing out in her head. She grinned as she pictured her childhood toy as the face of the young blonde headed girl, being impaled over and over again as flashes of their engagement caused a wave of lightheaded-ness to overcome her.

She collapsed on her back, breathing heavily as she gripped her hair. When she looked up, her eyes shot wide open as she saw a tall, ghostly figure climbing up her walls, it left behind a trail of small lingering footprints that slowly vanished with each step. Zephyr was about to open her mouth to scream, but her jaw was just left dangling open in shock at the extremely odd shaped thing. The more she looked at it, the more she realized how unbelievably long its fingernails/claws were. They could have been paper thin swords for all she knew.

Zephyr lifted her hand from the carpet, to which it snapped its head back at the noise, peering into Zephyr's eyes. She stared back at it intensely, studying its features; all while trying to figure out when it was going to lash at her. The creepiest part about the thing was that its face resembled that of an infant; smooth, round cheeks underlining dainty slanted eyes didn't seem to reflect its otherwise sinister anatomy.

It uttered a croaky, high-pitched thing to her before slithering towards the open window. Zephyr watched as its back legs vanished behind the decorative walls.

Zephyr felt her whole body grow fatigue in a hot flash, before passing out.

* * *

 _Achilles Jacinthus, 18, District 1 Male_

A prolonged groan escaped Achilles's lips as he laid in bed, his hands covering his face. He shifted his body over to the left, facing the black digital alarm clock on his nightstand. It read _3:46 pm_ in annoying, bright red numbers. From what he remembered he hadn't had anything to eat in at least a day, not that food wasn't available to him, he just didn't feel like eating.

His drooped eyes couldn't see the door opening when he sat up, but he could hear an urgent voice yelling at him to get ready; get ready for _what_? He vigorously thought. He rubbed his hazy eyes, but they still reminded foggy and unable to open properly. Tears started to form in his dark brown irises, which helped much and made it easier to see who was at the door.

"How long have you been in bed? It's almost four o'clock!" Shouted a trainer. Achilles sighed and started counting down the hours he had spent been laying in his bed staring at the ceiling. It actually wasn't that bad to him, lying down comfortably on a fine cotton mattress with a fluffy pillow to support his brain gave him time to revision his interview for when he arrived at the Capitol tomorrow. He could almost imagine the theme Caeser Flickerman would be pulling off this year, the year before was nearly frightening. His irises had been dyed an odd crimson, his mane was a tattered, victorian style white wig that slid out of place, and he sported a midnight black blazer upon a lighter colored kurta with a matching ascot. He stuck out like a ruby in a minecart full of coal, which Achilles truly wanted to reflect someday.

"I'm really sorry, I just lost track of time, okay?" He muttered under his breath, he watched the trainer's face for any sign of madness or disappointment, and sure enough, he was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"I completely forgot the reason for why I chose you as the volunteer, you're just going to be another pathetic bloodbath." He mumbled, but Achilles heard it clearly. The trainer turned back around and slammed the door shut behind him, Achilles looked down solemnly with his hands folded on his lap.

 _If you just gave me a chance to prove myself, I'll show you how I really shine_.

He felt tears eroding his vision, and quickly wiped them away before lifting himself up

He suddenly freed himself of his half-awakened state and slowly put the pieces together, _bloodbath, volunteer… well, I'll be damned, it's reaping day!_

He stood up from his sitting position and stretched his weary arms out before walking up to his mantle and faced a vast selection of broadswords, nunchucks, knives, polearms, spears, and hatchets. He slowly traced his fingers along the shiny fronts of each and every weapon, wondering which one he'd be using to train today.

He eventually decided that it didn't matter, as he was planning on volunteering just a couple hours later, besides, he expected their to be more weapons he would work with in just a few days. He paused on the elegant design of his rapier that stole his attention away from all the other weapons. It would be an easy carry over to where he planned on training, and it just so happened to fit nicely in the depths of his scabbard.

He turned around, holding the sword. His eyes darted over to where his pillow was, and with one swift motion, he threw it up in the air and briskly brought the blade of the sword down faster than momentum of the pillow. His blade cut right through the cotton layers and a storm of snowy white stuffing soon filled up the room. Achilles stood there still in the position of his right foot in front of the other and his sword pointing to the ground. He slowly put the tip of the blade close to his mouth and blew off a light collection of stuffing that gathered on the tip, he grinned as he sheathed it back into his scabbard and walked out of his dorm room.

 _I won't be needing that old thing anymore_ … he smugly thought. As he walked he heard chit-chatters coming from the gymnasium below him, where the party for the female volunteer was taking place. Achilles suddenly realized that no celebration had ever been thrown for him, he tried not be too distraught, but he couldn't help but feel like nobody cared for him enough to throw a big bachelor party celebrating his volunteering for the games on the day of the reaping.

He pressed his lips together, _of course nobody cared, I'm basically invisible_ , he could feel the gazes of people as he walked past them down the hallway, and felt them even harder from behind his back, he just wished no one would toss a paper airplane to the back of his head like they did last time. As he turned a corner and began stomping down the metal stairway to the gymnasium, the sounds of drinks spilling, plates shattering, and cries of laughter and/or pain became more evident.

He sighed as he pushed open the double doors with one hand, to which his nose wrinkled at the foul stench of vomit somewhere in the room. He started to feel dizzy at the amount of action going on. As he walked, he was met with a startling encounter of a girl with light brown hair nearly crashing into him.

"Hey there, cutie, why don't we ditch these fake bitches behind us and go meet up somewhere private," she mumbled, sounding like a dying goat as she slurred the last part of her sentence, clearly she was drunk. Achilles cringed as she opened her mouth to mumble some more nonsense, her breath was like an oxidized slap to the face. He resisted the urge to retch and ignored her as he walked off, leaving the girl in a state of confusion before she shrugged and stumbled away.

He met gazes with plenty of his tormentors, he mostly just saw looks of disgust and malice in their eyes as he edged away into a different part of the training academy. He was extremely relieved that he finally got to get away from that chaos, for a moment he thought he was never going to leave.

He closed the wooden folding door behind him as he stepped in, the dark room felt ominous from where he was standing. He walked over to the center of the room, and felt his bare feet touch the soft mat made for sparring, as soon as he set foot on the mat, light filled the room, taking away any traces of darkness it left behind. The light was so sudden and bright, Achilles squinted intensely in the newfound heaven, but that didn't stop him from doing what he came there for.

He unsheathed his rapier, holding onto the black taped handle tightly. He eyed his legs from the wall mirror, watching his footing. He then slowly edged to the right before twirling around, swishing the blade of the rapier to match the lining of his smile before landing softly on his feet.

He heard a thud, but didn't look down, he knocked the head clean off of the dummy. Pleased at his skill, he retracted the blade from the glossy casing of the dummy he managed to penetrate, and wiped some sweat from his forehead before he held the sword back into place. With another swift move, he sidestepped and extended his arm out, if someone had been standing there at the wrong time, they could've easily ended up with a sword in their esophagus.

 _No, they wouldn't. My footing was all wrong, I could've tripped and fallen flat on my face if I hadn't turned in time._

Achilles performed a few more sparring techniques, each time he landed on the mat he ridiculed himself over the simplest faults performed. He looked at his reflection through the glinting front of the sword, his eyes creepily staring back at him with disappointment.

 _If I can't do the one thing that makes me a person right, then what's the point of even living_?

Achilles sighed, he decided to abandon the sword and picked up a rusty pair of metal nunchucks. He swung the metal rod over his shoulder and caught it just in time with his other hand, he repeated that a few times until he got comfortable once again with the swinging. He swung it horizontally thru the air, swung it back behind his neck and back under his shoulder.

"Kiai!" He shouted through the deafening silence.

* * *

A mass crowd formed inside the square of Panem's wealthiest district. Shops were currently selling district pride souvenir, bracelets and necklaces made of gold and silver alike stocked shelves throughout the bustling city center. Parents carrying their children on their shoulders to get a better glimpse of the amazingly setup stage holding the ever so exquisite Mayor Corvex gave the day of the reaping a 'family friendly' sense. A variety of other district officials aligned the back of the stage along with the tens of past victors looking very pleased at the elegant way the day had been planned.

As more and more people signed in their children and themselves to be appointed in the inner ring of the audience who got a much better view of the action about to occur, the cameras hanging by the corners of the stage disguised as stage lights were ready to begin filming the whole district filling in the city center. The majority of the district was somewhere in the center of it all, and they were all feeling a variety of emotions, ranging from excited, to nervous, to overall ready to break from the crowd and sprint to the stage when the time came, it was a beautiful commotion of sentiment. From what the chosen volunteers could see, it was only a way to finally be able to travel, to see things, to become famous, to carry on their family legend, to avenge, or to purposefully fail; whatever of the mix.

As Zephyr signed in, she couldn't help but scowl as she caught a glance of the wretched Diamond. It wasn't like she had a problem with her initially, but the girl was such a huge cunt. She was fine with her being engaged to Alistair, she could still manage to squeeze between them and get some, but she had to know which buttons to push first.

She tried not to think of her as Quicentra Amaryllis glided on stage. A lovely velvet colored hat with an emerald feather resting on the pinnacle sat on her platinum blonde wig, a skintight jumpsuit made her physique look quite desirable. If anything, she was attractive.

"Welcome, citizens of District One! I am glad to be back here again to commemorate our glorious tributes here today," a plethora of clapping eroded from the field of white that was the crowd. Quicentra smiled as she lifted the microphone close to her face.

"Now, I know all of you want to go ahead and start with the reapings, is that right?" Thousands of yes's were hollered as Quicentra tried to take a moment to compose herself. She couldn't remember the last time District One showed that much excessive enthusiasm, she'd expect that kind of response for a quell, but since she was already presented with so much positivity, she continued doing whatever she was doing.

"Brilliant! Just what I wanted to hear!" She skidded over to the glass bowl full of pinkish slips, eyeing the pool of potential victors from above, and like an eagle swooping in for the kill, she snatched a slip right away.

She pursed her lips as she walked back to the microphone. As she held the small piece of paper she ran her eyes up and down the endless line of girls just waiting to volunteer.

Dramatically, she teared open the envelope and pulled out a thin slice of paper with a female's name on it. She glanced up to the cameras, giving the lens a devilish smile before returning to the most important prospect she travelled 500 miles for.

"And the name I've selected is no other than… Pen-"

"I VOLUNTEER!"

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of where the voice had entered their ear, it didn't take long before a sprout of auburn hair appeared in the camera's field of sight, followed by a glistening pair of chartreuse eyes gliding so elegantly toward the stage. Zephyr looked at the 18-year-old girls as she passed them and gave them a mirthful look, she ignored their death glares as she whipped her hair back facing the stage and climbed up the stone steps to the stage eight feet off the ground.

"What a huge surprise, we have a volunteer!" Quicentra joked, earning a few laughs from the audience. Zephyr tried not to roll her eyes before a microphone was shoved in front of her face.

"Tell us your name, young lady!"

Zephyr cleared her throat, "Zephyr Glasgow," she waved at the crowd and smiled at the thousands of faces, but really, she was only searching for where Alistair might have been, so she kept her gaze mainly focused in the onlookers section.

"What a beautiful woman you are! Tell me, have you used any _Dieu Complexe_ products?" She asked before pointing the microphone to the girl's face..

With a smile, she answered back, "I can only!" The escort along with the majority of the crowd laughed joyfully.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Zephyr! You can just stand right there while I go ahead and 'select' your district partner!" That earned her another wave of laughs.

Once again, her hand entered the opposing glass bowl, but that time it sunk in much deeper than last time, she moved her hands over hundreds of hundreds of blueish purple slips representing the males of the luxury district. Her hand then quickly retracted, carrying a slip. She then walked over to the microphone again.

"Joaquin Delwin," she shouted through the inflammable air.

Not a moment later after the name was called, a boy emerged from the front of the crowd, a look of confusion and shock was clearly visible on his tawny face. Thankfully, as he edged closer to the stage a strong, hoarse voice rang out.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Achilles yelled after going over what his exact words would be multiple times during the reaping, he nonchalantly walked out in the open and began his trek over to the stage area. He gulped as he passed the boy he volunteered for, who gave him a mischievous glower.

He glanced at the crowd as he climbed the stage, noticing a few faces who showed disgust toward him. He just looked straight ahead to the smiling Quicentra who had her hand extended for him, Achilles gladly took her helpful gesture.

"What's your name, lad?" Achilles looked at the black device, he exhaled quietly through his nose, finally being able to breath since he yelled those four words, and repeated his name.

"Achilles Jacinthus," Quicentra smiled and asked if he would like to answer a few questions, but he shook his head quickly.

"Oh… alright then," she walked back to the microphone and stared straight ahead, putting on a much formal demeanor than before..

"I suppose that concludes our annual reaping! Join us in a couple of days on live television for the ceremonial parade! I hope you tune in to our surprises! Up until then, Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds," she gestured to the two tributes standing behind her, "Be ever in their favours."

The crowd once again went insane, throwing their hands up and chanting sorts of things along the lines of, "DISTRICT ONE, DISTRICT ONE."

Zephyr and Achilles shook hands, her snake like eyes stared right into his bruised soul, which made his knees goes weak. They didn't say anything else for the duration of the reaping. Quicentra chatted a bit with the officials before they gave an all go hand gesture to the peacekeepers, allowing them to herd the people away from the center as more peacekeepers swooped in to chaperone the tributes towards the Justice Building.

"Good luck," Achilles whispered, Zephyr looked at him.

"What did you just say?" She began, Achilles looked straight ahead and tried to ignore the scolding look from his partner, who wanted to spit on the fool's shoes. Just how dare he undermine her abilities? She kept an eye on him the whole way through the hallway to the goodbye rooms, where she fingered her rhodium promise ring given to her by Alistair. Her heart melted into oblivion as she once again thought of him, his enchanting sapphire eyes encased in her mind forever. It would be a challenge to not think of him every step of the way through her journey.

She looked back at Achilles, his messy brown blocked her from seeing what his eyes looked like, which was annoying. She needed to know now if he was up for the tedious task it came with being a career, and at the moment, she didn't know how he'd fare in the deadly games awaiting them.

"I bid you adieu."

* * *

 **Our second career district is up! It was such a relief to finally post another reaping chapter, I'm finally getting on track here! Hopefully updates will be as frequent as this, I'm still deciding whether to do a one week schedule or two week, since I desperately want to catch up with the time I had spent not writing.**

 **I hope this chapter was to your liking, I don't want to sound like a drag and keep repeating the same thing every chapter. So I'll just add some more questions for you readers to answer.**

 **1\. What did you think of Zephyr and Achilles?**

 **2\. Who do you like more?**

 **3\. Predictions for the two of them?**

 **4\. Criticisms?**

 **Here's the riddle!  
**

 _ **The sun is harsh and scorching, but the amber waves are soaring.**_ **  
**

 **Until next district!**


	9. District 9 Reapings

**Disclaimer: This chapter is a little different...**

* * *

 _Melody Kayville, 13, District 9 Female_

* * *

" _The_ _M_ ockingjay _watched as the kids sang a song_

 _That left a hole in the critter's heart_

It _just made him feel like he didn't belong_

 _Oh, dear critter just fly away_

 _You'll find your real home someday_

 _Oh, life's not fair when you put it into view_

 _But the Mockingjay still kept his feathers clean_

 _He took a stand and then he flew._ "

Melody grinned as she sat back down. She blushed as her curtsy smile flourished into an excited giggle when her family started clapping. Her mother and brother even took a bow before the family continued eating dinner.

"That was beautiful, Melody. Someday your voice will be heard by everyone," her mother Gael said. Melody lowered her head in embarrassment to her words.

"Like that'll ever happen," she muttered. Gael chuckled, a little surprised that her daughter would say that. But found humor in the way she spoke it. Melody's brother, Reed, took a bite out of a croissant. His chewing was loud and obnoxious.

"She's right mom. Melody's voice will never get heard by anyone as long as she'll live," he said sarcastically, smiling at Melody who was giving him a dirty look. Gael scoffed and told Reed to quiet down before rubbing her lips with a napkin and standing up from her seat.

"Alright, well, I'm going to bed now. You two better get some rest too." She held her plate and took it to the kitchen to be washed. Reed smirked at his sister before he kindly took her plate and set it on his to be washed as well. Melody grinned at him before scooting the chair back to stand up. She wished her family goodnight before trudging over to her room and crawling in her bed.

The warm blanket felt blissful snuggled up to her chin. If it were any other night it would have felt perfect. Sadly, she had to get up at around 8 o'clock tomorrow to pull on her reaping dress and shine her shoes for the live broadcasted event; which she definitely was not looking forward to. She sighed. The thought of the reaping made her eyes sink with despair. She thought it was an utter discrepancy to be able to attend something so bizarre and so cruel right after she had school the previous day. She began to toss and turn in her bed while growing severely anxious about the next day. When she laid on her back to stare at the ceiling, she wondered if it was going to be the last time she ever got to lay in her nice, warm bed. She took ahold of her pillow and snuggled up against it, but the smooth cotton texture only made her more skittish that she was going to become selected in the annual drawing tomorrow...

She peered through the pitch blackness that accompanied her room at the time. A sudden chill crept up her spine and made her face feel hot. She rolled over to her side and released an annoyed sigh. She was feeling extra nervous that night... More than any other night combined. Her hair stuck to her temples in a flurry of fear; but when she stretched her legs out under her blanket, she felt a cool trickle of air comfortably hug her bare feet. She thought it was a weird sensation. But it thankfully helped to distract her from the thought of having her from the reaping. Even if she did however manage to become a tribute tomorrow. She promised to pull through albeit the terror she would probably feel, and to not look like a complete wuss. Unbeknownst to her, there would be something far more treasonous than what she expected tomorrow.

"Hopefully it won't be me," she whispered to herself before she yawned softly. Her eyelids eventually gave in to the weariness and before she realized it; she drifted off to the land of sleep.

A thunderous blast rang out through the entire district center, interrupting the melodic silence in the otherwise peaceful morning. Melody dropped her metal spoon into her bowl of oatmeal, wondering what the fuck just occurred. Her black hair spun over her front as her neck clocked sideways to look through the window. A brigade of people could be seen causing a frenzy in the streets. Melody glanced to her mother with eyes stretched to her eyebrows, who was singing a lovely low-pitched tune while scrubbing the counters down when heard it.

Reed, her older brother, stood up from his chair and started walking over to the door to see what was happening. Gael quickly stopped him from going any further and told her son to sit back down in harsh tone of voice.

"Stay right here. I'll go check to see what's happening." Melody couldn't help but stare at her mother's back as she vanished out the door. She lay stuck to her wooden chair as her fingers crept up her polka-dot reaping dress. She felt her hand securing her neck in angst as she wondered when her mother was coming back.

As the wait for her return made her feel more and more anxious, her eyes started to scan the room looking for some way she could distract herself from the dreadful morning. She looked at a glass picture frame containing a black and white picture of her and her mother standing behind a field of long grass with the wind catching in their matching black hair. She looked at her own emotionless face in the image. Her red hair ribbon had been flailing wildly in the wind that day. Her mother had a much more softer, easy-going look to her eyes. Albeit the discrepancies in the nose and complexion, they both shared the same green, precious eyes. She sighed. _Would this be the last time I'll ever get to see her_? She thought as she looked down at her folded hands against the wooden table.

Another loud shot rang in the distance right before a whizzing object came hurtling just inches from her face before it shot right into the wall. Melody screamed. Her brother followed up with a startled yelp that seemed to echo all four corners of the house. She stumbled out of her chair and hit her hands against the stone tiles with a loud smack. She breathed in and out as her hands wrapped around the leg of a chair in a desperate need for comfort. As she started to have a panic attack, her wide eyes landed on a smokey dark hole in the wall that hadn't been there previously.

"What the actual fuck just happened?" Reed yelled. He ran over to the hole in the wall and peered through it. What seemed to be a bullet misfire had landed straight through her home. The bullet looked to be lodged in some inner-wall foundations and drywall. The two siblings couldn't believe that something like that would have happened, especially on reaping day. Melody kept on a terrified mask for her own sake. If she had only leaned forward a couple inches to grab a napkin she would have been done for. The thought made her extremely unsettled.

To their relief and utter fear, they heard the sound of a door opening and closing. Melody took a hold of a fork from the table. A knife would have been the better option in this circumstance, but she just couldn't imagine herself wielding such a device with intent to hurt. She gripped the handle tenaciously close to her chest as she waited for the footsteps to turn the corner to the kitchen, shaking like a leaf as she sat.

A woman came reeling out of the corner, hyperventilating. The two teens watched her breath in and out rapidly until finally they met gazes.

"Mom," Reed said in a demanding tone. "Please tell me you heard that."

Their mother steered clear of that answer out of fear. "You two go to your room and hide under your bed. Turn off all lights and don't make a sound." Melody dropped the fork and nodded. She stood up off the ground and bolted straight through the kitchen and into the bedroom. Reed had no choice but to pursuit her

Switching off the lamp to dim down the already dark room, they both slid underneath the creaky mattress lying on a thin wooden frame, it didn't help to ease Melody's nervousness as the sound of explosions rattled the ceiling and made her cover her ears.

Reed and Melody had a terribly hard time coping with what was happening. Melody peered up at the flickering light bulb of her room and silently prayed that whatever was going on would end very soon.

Mom _, where in the world are you?_ _Why now? Why on reaping day? Why make the worst day of the year even more horrible than it already is? Why do I have to live like this?_ Tears streamed down her tanned cheeks as she hoped that her mother wasn't in any danger. She heard the sound of someone scoffing, and turned her gaze to see Reed shaking his head.

"Welp, there goes my plans for today," he joked. Melody scowled and rolled her eyes before what sounded like a whistling noise chimed high up in the sky. It became louder as each second flew by. Melody covered her mouth as she thought of a nuclear bomb ripping through the air above with the ground waiting to be turned into a cataclysmic mess.

She suddenly didn't care about her own safety from that point on. She needed to know what was happening to her district.

She crawled out from under the bed and went for the door, feeling a little brave as she heard Reed's shouts from behind her head. She ran over to a window and yanked it open. She noted the glass structure no longer had a lemony scent to it, nor it was relishing a nice, clean reflective undertone that overlooked the townhouses behind the road. Instead, it was partly shattered, bits of glass laid on the windowsill along with tiny pebbles that somehow made its way inside the house. A layer of dust and mud made it hard for Melody to be able to get a good grip on the handle. After she opened it, her eyes stretched wide open as the setting met her for the first time.

The former blue and lively sky was polluted with grime, smoke and trailing dust. A couple of hovercrafts zoomed past the scene as her eyes wandered down to the bellowing citizens of the district. Surprisingly, she found her mother knelt next to a homeless girl outside. Her lips moved to form a soothing melodic song with her arms wrapped around the child.

She couldn't help but watch the two. The child looked like she had been weeping, now her swollen face and red-tinted eyes were beginning to diminish to a more natural state. Melody's mother held her hand as she swayed her head soothly to the rhythm of the lullaby. She knew it was a lullaby since she recognized the way her lips moved from when she used to sing her the same song. She pondered going over there and joining the two, but she laid her decision out as a no. Going over there would probably add some unnecessary tension and she wasn't too keen on making herself seem like a head above the rest.

Against her brother's warnings, she walked outside into the scorching air. Her hair clung to the mug of her head as she looked up and down the road. The toxic scent that was in the air made her retch, causing her to choke up some bile onto the threshed grain. Her vision started to blur as she knelt down to catch her breath, and before she knew she was slowly suffocating. A blinding light followed by a blood-curdling explosion went off in the distance somewhere.

Melody flinched violently while she whipped her body around to face a plethora of smoke emitting from somewhere in the grain fields. She could hear people screaming from that precise area.

She unexpectedly came to a realization that it had actually been one of the mills.

Melody could almost hear her brother's thoughts as she turned towards him. He gave her a disapproving look as she looked at him, then back at the smoke.

 _Stay right here Melody. Don't you go anywhere_.

Melody slowly started to edge in the direction of the trouble, her eyes giving away her thoughts just as much as her actions. She knew he knew what she was thinking.

 _I can't. I'm sorry. I have to go see what's happening._

"No..." Reed half-shouted as she started running. "Stay right here Melody, don't you go anywhere!"

But it was too late. Melody was already jogging past the many townhouses that aligned the threshed road. The drowning voice of her brother that was pleading with her to return to him no longer meant anything to her at that moment.

She passed the large and up-kept development she was raised in and was now hurrying through the poorest neighborhood of the district. That place was typically referred to as the Rathole. At least by outside residents. It was brimming of burning trash, rotting houses that were the homes of stray animals, and homeless people that had a knack for ogling... Melody could also see that she was only a couple hundred yards away until she could disappear into the wheat fields. It was only a matter of time before she found out what the outcome of that explosion may have been.

She leaped into the amber brush. The long strands of grain pelted her face repeatedly as she jogged. The smoke forming a cloud was now seriously close to where she was at that moment, and she had a feeling it was going to be much worse than she thought initially

She had always been quite agile and was usually the first to arrive to situations like this, so once she pushed aside another few feet of grain and suddenly running out into a clearing. It was rather surprising to see that a large crowd had already formed and surrounded what seemed to be the source of the loud explosion. Melody walked toward the horde of people and tried to peer over the many heads that blocked the view. She began to get concerned, and tried to squeeze through the cracks of the crowd, but only to be pushed back.

"Um, could I please go through?" She squeaked. Trying to tap on a man's shoulder to let him know if she could pass him. When the man turned his head and only gave her a scowl for an answer, she gave up trying to reason with people. Instead, she ran around the perimeter of the crowd, desperately looking for an opening somewhere so she could get a view of what was going on. Why? She didn't know…

She spotted a small gap that was between two unsuspecting adults. It was a narrow opening, but she somehow managed to push her way to the front. What she saw next just blew her mind.

The smoke that was floating through the sky was traced back to a mill that once cycled around the air and blew wind into people's faces. It was now a burning pinwheel of death, coated in thick black ash that still carried monstrous flames that made the air taste repugnant. The wood that surrounded the structure was singed a dark color beneath the scorching flames. Melody became very distraught. It hurt to see the mill she frequently traveled to to see how the machines work suddenly burn. She could see the specific area in which the bomb must've dropped on top of it. It tore off a huge chunk of wood from the edge of the mill, which sparked a chain reaction that caused the wheels to stop turning.

Everyone suddenly heard an angry voice shouting from behind the crowd. A peacekeeper pushed through a clump of people and stood in the center of the crowd, wielding a semi-automatic rifle. He ordered for everybody to clear the area and put at least a mile between them and the flames. Melody sulked. Slowly and grudgingly, everyone started slumping back to whichever part of the district they came from.

"You too little lady, get outta here." Melody flinched at the voice. He was referring to her. Which Melody thought was pretty obvious. Who else in the crowd was as little as her? She gulped.

She stared up at the flames that were burning intensely. It scared her a little to know that she was mere meters away from becoming a leather face. It was so disgusting and horrifying to see it unfold. She felt her face tingle from the invisible heat pinching the tip of her nose. It reminded her of standing in front of a grain compactor, what with the warmth and all. But standing in front of an actual burning mill didn't harbor that comforting feeling that came with being inside a factory that made tassels. Instead, it felt as if Melody was actually suffocating from the heat. She finally turned her head to relieve herself of the pain and saw the intimidating suit of the peacekeeper glaring at her.

"I said clear the area, did you not hear me or are you just dumb?"

Melody gasped and started looking in every direction. "Oh, um. I'm really sorry. I'll start heading back now." She turned back around and sprinted in the other direction.

 _Oh, where's mom when I need her the most_?

* * *

 _Todd Weizan, 15, District 9 Male_

"C." He hopped another few inches upon the rotting wooden bridge that stretched over the canal. He took a few seconds to breathe while keeping his grip on his left foot that was behind his head tight. He had to admit, the position he was in at the moment was nothing but ridiculous. Although his friends might have found it amusing, given that they were standing across the bridge laughing their asses off.

Todd smirked, silently cursing them for daring him to do this. He saw Vale form a camera with his fingers before jabbing his pointer down, thus snapping the imaginary picture of him. A chorus of laughter greeted his ears afterwards; but Todd chose not to care. The only thing he _did_ choose to care about was making it all the way across the canal. He focused on the spot in which he planned to leap on, before hopping another few inches in front of him.

"B." He was now only a couple steps to the end. If he only could manage to pull off one final hop, then it would make the last half hour worth it. He watched his friends practically lose their shit as they were all on the ground laughing. He gritted his teeth and dove over the line that marked the end of the bridge canal.

"A." He finally finished; slumping down towards the ground like an old rag doll. As he breathed heavily in apprehension, his tired eyes met those of Morty, who gave him a delighted look. Todd sneered as he pulled himself up, stretching his limbs.

"Whoa, that was amazing!" Vale exclaimed, giving Todd a congratulatory pat on the back. Todd's antics were pretty much well known through his clique, whether it be his map collection or hopping over the canal with one foot behind his head while singing the alphabet backwards. He had definitely made an endearing name to himself.

"Why can't you do anything like that, Morty?" Vale asked, playfully chucking his shoulder. Morty yelped in surprise and gave him an unnerving glower.

"Because I'm the sensical one, remember?" He sniggered. Vale snorted with laughter.

"C'mon guys, don't act so appraising. It wasn't even that good." Todd chimed in, growing a little fatigue from the feat. Vale smirked.

"Todd, you undervalue yourself way too often. I don't think you realize just how able you really are," he said in way in which Todd tried not to scoff.

"Oh, be quiet. You'd probably go through the canal like that in under one minute…" Todd jested, making Vale laugh with delight.

Mutton, who had been drawing a flower in the dirt with a long stick, spoke up, "Alright guys, I think we better get going. It'd be a waste to use up our time before the reaping doing stupid stunts."

After everyone seemed to agree with her, she kicked dirt over her drawing and snapped the stick in half before she tossed the two pieces into the field of grain that was closeby. She walked alongside her group, a terrible sneer on her face.

Todd recounted his friends under the glowing sun. There was Vale, an endearing jock who went by without a wisp of care. Todd thought solemnly of him, although he was quite jealous of his imposing nature. Morty was an intimidating fellow with the attitude of a brazen bull with a snarky will. He also found him entertaining to be around, so he wasn't a complete oaf to him. He had a girlfriend, Yucatan, who at the moment wasn't with the rest of the group. Their relationship was mostly steady, with little kisses they shared now and then, but not anything beyond. And of course, there was Mutton, the only female who he ordinarily hung out with as a friend, other than his sister and sister's friend who only occasionally joins them. Mutton was a girl not to be messed with, or else the consequences may have been dire. She wasn't that bad of a looker either; but it was hard to decipher her accustomed scowl and terrible sneer to be completely sure.

The sun decided to show off its crass that day by beaming down sweltering heat. It gave the illusion of a golden field of grain, rather than bleak amber. Todd thought it looked amazing from afar. In fact, he knew that many of the hills had yet to be charted by humans. To him, the fields were a place meant for exploring. He was bound to figure out his environment, and where exactly in the District they so happened to be.

The serene silence was nice and enjoying, but it didn't take long for a crass voice to irritate the air.

"Do you even know where you're leading us?" Morty exclaimed, still riled up with Vale striking him. Vale turned toward him and gave him a questionable yet innocent look. He sighed as he began to march down the slope he was on.

"Just trust me, okay friend? I know this is going to be a hell of an adventure, and it'll probably stay that way if you could… You know!" He smirked, passing his vision over the group of confused teenagers.

"You know, I've noticed something, whenever we decide to go on a hike right before reaping day it seems like everybody wants to leave before the fun begins! What are friends for anyways? To leave behind to let everyone else do all the work? No!" While he continued to drone on about the importance of friendship, Todd had long since ignored him before he fixated his gaze in the distance. He thought about his fellow friend Morty's question as he brought out his arms and briskly cracked his knuckles.

"So the answer's no?" Morty added. Vale replied by giving a sly grin that seemed to answer his friend's question.

"You know what? I think we should take a break…" Todd suggested, slumping down on the dirt before resting his cheek on his fist. Vale scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Todd, you know we might not even get the chance to go out here anymore after the reaping. Tell me, who'll have the time for hiking when everybody's schedule will be centered around mandatory television viewing, school, and farming for the next month?"

He crossed his arms with a apprehensive look on his face, waiting patiently for Todd's response. To which the latter shrugged and released long held sigh. Vale took this as a mutual agreement and smirked with a charming raise of his eyebrow.

"Besides, I don't wanna pass up an opportunity for working on this body," he jested with a posh undertone to his voice, subtly bringing his strong arms out and about. Mutton chortled, trying to hold in laughter.

"Whatever floats your boat, Vale 'ol buddy, 'ol pal," Morty said. Vale winked ironically.

"I guess I'm through," Todd added, raising himself up with a jaded shove of his right knee.

Once again, they continued their trek over the hill range. With Vale jokingly hinting that he might not know where exactly he's leading them. Morty and Mutton both glanced at each other, sharing a look of amusement.

While everyone was too busy worrying about getting bitten by a snake in the tall grass, Todd had a brief moment of realization.

He stopped in his tracks, causing Morty to bump shoulders with him as he passed. He turned around and gave him his usual death glare. Todd smirked, trying to overshadow his blush with the beginning of his abrupt statement.

"I think I might have the solution to our problem…" He dug his hand through his cargo pocket and was extremely relieved to find one of his maps, folded up in a nicely enclosed wad of paper. He might've accidentally put it in his pocket in a hurry while he was cleaning his room that morning. He _did_ want to be on time to meet up with Vale, Mutton, and Morty after all.

He eventually unfolded it after staring at it for a moment. He leered as he quickly swept his palm over the gray tinted sheet, eroding the air with an uncanny amount of dust, causing Todd's eyes to redden as his cheeks puffed involuntarily.

He brought the map to his face, and was greeted by multiple inky hills and landforms, as well as dozens of carefully etched mills dotted in sporadic places. It had been easy pinpointing certain areas in his maps mainly because of the landforms that were easily matched with its mapped counterparts. The only thing he could thank in the corrupt system that made up Panem was its schools, which introduced him to the art of cartography.

Not directly, though. Panem's education system made it so that loopholes were quite common, especially in the poorer districts. While the teachers were too busy teaching the students of District 9 basic math and spelling, along with different farming techniques, and chemicals in which were added into the soul, which quickened the wheat growing process; Todd branched his chemical knowledge into something more interesting. Years of geological modelling had led to his collection. It was certainly a beautiful art to behold. All in all, he got the knack of map making.

"Oh, nice! Thanks for bringing the map, Todd! I'd have no idea what to do if you guys allowed me in charge for any longer." Vale said, walking over and hovering by Todd to analyze his map. "Where are we at the moment?"

"Hmm… According to my map, we are dead-center inside a crop circle," Todd replied while letting Vale grip part of the paper to watch.

"A _crop circle_?" Vale exclaimed, narrowing his eyes. "Please tell me you're a hundred percent sure about that."

"Well I mean… The map doesn't lie!" He sputtered jokingly.

When no one laughed he took it upon himself to fake cough and fixate his thoughts toward the paper. He could feel Vale's surprised gaze on him even after he made it clear that he was telling the truth. Todd didn't find any fascination with the mysterious crop circles that divots into the soil of the grain fields. He just liked mapping them. He continued reading his map looking for other pathways he could take, when he heard the sound of a shaky voice break the foreboding silence that was emanating through the air.

"Todd…"

"Yes?"

Todd pried his attention away from the map and looked up to meet eyes with Vale, who was looking more concerned than he thought necessary. He had his eyes squinted into a flurried look as he was gazing at something in the distance, to which Todd decided not to think much of. For Vale _did_ have a tendency to overreact to things. And so, he sat down on the hard soil as a sense of uncertainty devoured him.

"Guys, is that smoke?" Morty glanced to Vale after he heard him utter that statement. Within a few seconds he was now beside him and Mutton near the edge of the hill marvelling at the smoke emitting into the air. On the other side of the hill was Todd, staring at the complementary mix that was on his side of the sky. Completely oblivious to the catastrophe that was visible if he only turned around, he thought about what the fields must've looked like through aerial view.

 _The things birds must see everyday_. The corner of his lips curled into a toothy grin. His innocence was soon to be hazed.

He was then taken back by someone snapping their fingers close to his ear. He turned his head while standing back up was shocked to see Morty giving him a heavy look.

"Do you even know what's going on?" He said. Todd ignored him as he glanced towards the end of the hill, and was taken aback by the view of the smoke and widened his eyes, his squinty blue irises taking in the surreal view of the disaster happening a mere mile away. He covered his agape mouth as he checked his friends for affirmation, noting their similar shocked looks. They all heard a roar of an explosion go off in the distance. Todd's ears began to ring as he whirled around, desperate to make sure his closest friends were okay. Whether or not that sound had started far away or close to them was uncertain.

His thoughts diverted over to his girlfriend, Yucatan. His heart began pounding at the speed of sound as the four friends looked up to see a swarm of hovercrafts zoom through the sky in a continuous flash... A demonic like view for the group indeed. Todd could see Mutton screaming, but couldn't hear her. The ringing in his ears created an absolute frenzy for him.

He looked up at the flashing sky and was confused to see what looked like rain start to fall from the sky. Upon a more detailed look, he found that the droplets of rain seemed to range in colors, from red to yellow, to white to black. It was all very mysterious and frightening. Once the rain was close enough for Todd to evaluate its size, Todd was completely shocked to see that they were in fact not droplets of rain, they were _bombs_.

The first bomb made impact with the ground in the far distance, and from what Todd could see. It looked to be disastrous. A mushroom cloud the size of a building shot a radiating wind through the land. Surprisingly, it didn't make any sound.. Shortly after, several other bombs met the ground and made what looked to be the deadliest event in District Nine's history. A plethora of explosions forced the group to sprint down the hill.

They all ran towards the safety of the city square as fast as their legs could carry them, which was probably not the best idea. But they had no other choice. The grain fields provided no shelter except for some mills spread far apart to shield against the bombs, so the city square was the most plausible option, with the only other one being death.

Their frantic footsteps acted as a feeble backdrop against the unnerving sounds of blasts fabricating what was left of District 9. Todd could feel his insides churn with each vibration the bombs put into the ground. He looked back and was surprised to see that all three of his friends were far behind him. He could see they were trying their best to catch up. But it wasn't working, as Todd was the fastest one.

Todd forced himself to stop all of a sudden. He impatiently waited for his friends to catch up to him, although, it was a nerve-wracking situation. But as soon as they all managed to come near him. He took his time to quickly usher them to safety.

He first grabbed Mutton's arm, pulling her in front of him before giving her an encouraging shove. He saw Mutton's face gleamed with tears of sadness. Todd resisted the urge to run as well, as he felt his friend's lives were worth so much more than his. And he could only do what he felt was necessary. Morty came up running soon after, sprinting past Todd before he even got a chance to look at his facial expression.

"Go!" He shouted, his voice like a staticy blare against the horrendous explosions. "Hurry up! I'm right behind you!" He meant to say that statement for his entire group as he hurriedly ushered them to the city in the distance. Vale turned around as he ran and gave Todd an empathetic look. Todd met eyes with him and before mouthing something along the lines of: "Be safe."

He turned around, his eyes lighting up with fear as variations of fireballs and raining bombs were flying overhead. It was an actual nightmare. _Why would the Capitol do this? Was there a reason to be casting this much terror upon a helpless district like Nine?_ Todd was sent sprinting down the yellow grass as soon as he heard a sudden boom come from a couple hundred feet behind him. His frantic footsteps along the path was as frightening to hear as the eminent possibility of death.

With his lungs already starting to become weary, he set his eyes upon the district center and actually made it there without a bomb dropping directly on him, which would have obviously been a horrible way to go out.

He persisted jogging albeit his exhausted state. He ran through the doors of the district library in a frantic air. The place where he and his girlfriend would occasionally go for some dates, it was the place where he had also met her. Todd figured it was where she would have been if the two of them ever got separated and needed a place to meet up.

He was briefly stopped by the entrance by some peacekeepers, and after keeping calm and getting patted down to check for some dangerous items he might have had, he marched through the building with his eyes scanning every edge and every face within the group of frightened refugees to see if Yucatan was anywhere to be seen

"Does anybody here know a girl by the name of Yucatan"? He urgently asked. His eyes raised with fear as he gazed over the confused faces. Not a single one of them looked like they recognized that name. Todd watched as a frightful lady looked over at her equally scared husband. They both shared the same look. A look that Todd could only describe as _broken_.

He sighed, wondering where in the district Yucatan could've been. He only hoped that she wasn't in the vicinity of where the bombs had hit.

"Young man," he heard a voice say. He turned around and saw a semi-circle that had gathered around an empty coffee table. The people around it looked to be mostly middle-aged, with some of them maybe being around his age. Todd stared at them solemnly. He was confused at first, but when he saw a woman hold out her hand to him, he felt as if he should act respectfully. Besides, those people might have been as equally scared and confused as he was about the whole ordeal.

He slowly walked towards the group and gladly accepted the woman's gesture. She gave him a weary smile, to which Todd reflected it. He looked at all the different faces, each with stories of their own. _Each with a probable better one than him_. And as the people gathered around began to close their eyes and whisper a solemn prayers, Todd couldn't help but look around at all the sick souls who have been so drastically moved by this so-called act of terrorism.

Even though he wasn't religious in the slightest, he closed his eyes and began to pray with them.

* * *

The sound of a claxon burst through the intimidating silence once again. The bombs had since stopped its surge and the smoke clogging up the sky was now acting as a warning among the citizens. People who were walking out of their houses were _furious_. Not frightful as the Capitol had wanted it to be like. They were completely in rage of what had just happened. No one knew the reason for why they decided to airstrike them, or the number of casualties that had been a result of the tragedy, but one thing they did know was that it was likely not for a good reason, and that it was a horrible happening. It was quite an urgent message to attend the reaping from what everybody could tell, since the claxon had not only sounded two times, but a _third_ claxon had emanated out the loudspeakers to make sure everybody was where they needed to be.

The center had been nearly filled to the brim. A few people had been forced to watch from the windows of their shops, but it wasn't a hugely fussed over thing. Since the peacekeepers had actually felt some sympathy for them. An air strike had just passed them an hour ago, after all.

As the mentors and district officials got ready to put up a fake smile on their faces, the escort, Omelia Triti, made her appearance by sauntering out the gates of the Justice Building in a droopy black dress. With her being surrounded by peacekeepers it was hard for the cameramen to capture a good angle of her as she walked up to the microphone. She had been informed of the bombing, and was told that it was too keep a suspected band of rebels from conjuring up enough force. She was told to not speak of the events and carry on with the reaping as usual. And so she did just that.

The time for the reaping to start had just begun. People awkwardly gazed around at the hoarse air that had been cleared of its toxic odor. It still left a repugnant taste to people's mouths when they breathed. Luckily for Omelia, she was wearing a white surgical mask to block out the unpleasant smell and the possible airborne pathogens shying through the air. The people, however, did not need to know that.

"Welcome citizens of District 9. It is an amazing honor to be with you again another year and to be the one who'll select your tributes. I find it to be an splendid time of year for you all and I hope this celebration is worth it."

 _Nothing is worth getting killed_ , Melody thought grimly as she stood in the very back of section F13. As she watched Omelia flash the crowd another fake smile before walking over to the glass bowl with female slips, she was hoping that everything and anything she saw moments before was all just a dream. A disturbing one, to be exact. And as she looked at Omelia's facial expression, which was a curt smile, she had a little bit of trouble believing it wasn't. That was until she heard the name that was called.

"Melody Kayville," Omelia exclaimed. The entire crowd of girls began to sputter up whispers and the like. Melody, however, remained dead silent as she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. Her eyes widened and the sour air started to sting her dark green irises. She had no choice but to keep focusing on a random object on the other side of the crowd to refrain from having a mental breakdown.

The peacekeepers approaching her had Melody look around with a face full of worry. Was she really about to go stand on the stage right after her district had been ransacked? That was just an insane expectation to meet, even for the Capitol. Instead of giving in to the peacekeepers as they were walking down the aisle. Melody used her height to her advantage and duck down to keep from them seeing her. Her being at the back of the section provided some aid for what she was about to do. She didn't know if what she would be doing would result in a premature ending to her life, but then again, she _was_ reaped to compete in The Hunger Games.

She crept behind the group of girls who were all oblivious to her actions, making sure her movements were noiseless and steady. She suddenly stood straight up and began sprinting through the vicinity of the center with one thing on her mind, and that was to find Reed.

She heard loud shouts behind her, but she ignored them as she ran as fast as she could, dodging people and authorities alike before she eventually saw Reed leaning over the spectating threshold with his arm out and extended for her to take. She added in an extra boost to her speed to be able to reach him and escape. But just as they were only an arm's length away from each other, she felt a terrible ripple of pain in what must've been her neck.

She fell to the ground, bringing her hand against her neck in where the taser had hit. She tried screaming, but a beam of pain had prevented her from even opening her mouth. So she could only cry silently as she was hoisted up by some peacekeepers. She refused to see what Reed's face was like after that, as she highly doubted he was anything under absolutely horrified. She tried to pull the barb out that was sticking out like a sore thumb, but could only manage to wince in pain before allowing the peacekeepers to take full control of her.

Melody was dragged out on the stage where her slumped body was left to sit and wait for the escort to call out the male's name. She didn't even pay attention to the name that was called out momentarily after she was brought on stage. Omelia tried not to pay much attention to her before she read the name that was on the piece of paper.

"And our male tribute will be… Todd Weizan!"

Todd shot back into attention. He saw the slumped girl on the stage and the escort peering out into the crowd with another slip in hand. He knew she had then called out the boy's name… _His_ name to be exact.

He looked around for a brief moment, his heart pumping blood louder than he thought imaginable. He awkwardly hobbled out from his section and allowed the peacekeepers to guide him towards the stage. Even as he was being guided towards the stage, with no taser about to be implanted in his neck. He still felt like a weight had been dropped on his chest.

After the peacekeepers had released him to climb aboard the stairs, he tripped over his own two feet, nearly causing him to faceplant on the concrete floor. His face instantly went bright red as his eyes widened and scanned the crowd. He was guided by the escort to stand next to the crying slumped girl, which made his eyes turn glassy as he felt useless when Omelia put a hand on his shoulder, she didn't bothered touching Melody for fear she was going to contract melanoma essentially. She smiled as she looked out at the thousands of faces in the crowd, she knew they wouldn't acknowledge her if she ever ended the reaping with a joyous farewell. But with the orders she was given, she ended the reaping ceremony with a brief statement.

"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour."

Melody was picked up and then dragged into the opened gates of the Justice Building. Todd was also whisked away, but with not as much force as Melody. The two tributes were then brought into two separate rooms for family members to come in and give their goodbyes.

Whether it was going to be a permanent departure was all up to them.

* * *

 **I can't believe it's been another month! I finished writing Melody's segment a long while ago but for some reason I decided to take a break before continuing with Todd. I think I can now say that the Reapings probably won't be finished before spring break... Hopefully you'll understand. Also, this is my longest chapter yet! It's just a little over 7,000 words, which I'm really proud of.**

 **For those of you who I've already introduced your tributes: don't worry, I'll make sure everybody gets as much writing time as they deserve. I plan on making reaping chapters as long as this from now on. Maybe even a little longer, maybe a little shorter. I think tributes will make a much better first impression with these longer chapters.**

 **That being said... Try not to put these two in a higher rate of your judgement because of the long POV's and of course the twist I've written here. It's pretty unfair to those who I've already written their character. Basically, try to remember them based on their personalities and actions, not based on the twist (by that I mean the bombing).**

 **P.S. The reason I decided to add in the twist was to give a little bit of insight on how the rebellion is brewing up.**

 **Questions!**

 **1\. Thoughts on Melody?**

 **2\. Thoughts on Todd?**

 **3\. What do you think of the twist?**

 **4\. Criticism?**

 **Here's the riddle:**

 _ **A Mockingjay. Just a glimpse of it as it flies by. The same one every time.**_

 **Until then!**


End file.
